Five inter-State ganja smuggling gang held; Contraband worth Rs.2.94 Cr seized
Hyderabad: The Cyberabad police on Sunday busted an inter-State ganja gang smuggling in a container by changing number plates with the arrest of five persons on Sunday morning.
As many as 803 kgs dry ganja worth Rs.2.81 crore, a container and a car and seven mobile phones, all worth over Rs.2.94 crore were seized from the possession of the arrested persons identified as Somanatha Khara, 34, a grocery shop owner and his two assistants - Sunil Khosla, 28, Jaga Suna, 26, all natives of Malkangiri in Odisha, Harade Sanjeev Vittal Reddy, 35, who is container owner, Sanjeev Kumar Hollappa Okare, 40, driver, both natives of Karnataka.
Ganja supplier Ramu of Dumbriguda in Araku and the key peddler Suresh Maruthi Patil of Dattanagar in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra are absconding, according to SOT Deputy Commissioner of Police, D. Srinivas.
Somanatha Khara working under the leadership of Ramu used to deliver the contraband to buyers by engaging vehicle drivers. He came in contact with driver Vittal Reddy and Sanjeev Kumar Hollappa transporting goods to various States. Somanatha Khara made a deal with Vittal Reddy to transport dry ganja in their container from Odisha to Maharashtra on commission basis. Somanatha Khara instructed Sanjeev Reddy to inform him, whenever he comes to Vizag and its nearby areas to deliver any goods.
On July 30, Sanjeev Reddy got an order to transport food items from Patancheru to Vizag and he along with another driver Sanjeev Kumar Holappa transported the same to Vizag and delivered the food items at Gajuwaka in Vizag.
In the meantime he contacted Somanatha Khara, who asked Sanjeev Reddy to transport ganja to deliver the same to Suresh Patil, who is a receiver at Patancheru in his container. Later, Suresh Patil will transport it in another vehicle to Maharashtra.
On August 1, 2024 Sanjeeva Reddy loaded chemical solvents from a company at the SEZ in Vizag. On the same day, Somanatha Khara along with his friends Jagasuna and Sunil Khosla hired a rented car and came to Gotlam area of Vizainagaram and delivered dry ganja in 26 gunny bags to Sanjeeva Reddy.
Sanjeeva Reddy loaded 26 bags in a container and camouflaged in solvents drums. From there, Somanatha Khara and his friends piloted the container in their car for safe travel. The drivers used to remove number plates of the vehicles before approaching toll gates to avoid surveillance cameras. They used to pass toll gates with the help of fast tag affixed to vehicles. After crossing every toll gate, they fix numbers to vehicles.
On August 3, when they reached near Pedda Golconda ORR Junction, the SOT Cyberabad team apprehended them.