Published Oct 03, 2022 | 8:00 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 03, 2022 | 8:04 PM
The Rachakonda Police with the seized items. (Supplied)
The Rachakonda Police on Monday, 3 October, arrested four alleged peddlers with 900 kg of marijuana, supposed to be worth ₹2 crore.
The men were arrested near Prakash Gardens on the Warangal-Hyderabad highway in the Yadadari Bhuvangiri district, based on a tip-off that came in on 14 September, the police said.
The cops also seized a truck, five mobile phones, and ₹3,100 cash from the accused.
Seized items. (Supplied)
Investigators identified three of the arrested as Vikas Baban Salve, Vinod Chandravan Kalkar, and Kishore Thulshiram Wadekar, all from the Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.
The fourth individual was identified as Kosa Chitti Babu from Malkangiri in Odisha.
The police charged them under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Amendment Act of 2001.
The cops added that raids were being conducted in different locations to arrest two alleged peddlers, identified as Yogesh Dattu Gaikwad from Maharashtra and Palasi Karraiah from Odisha.
The arrest and seizure came almost a fortnight after the Hayathanagar police seized 550 kg of marijuana, supposed to be worth ₹1.35 crore.
The accused were arrested by the Alair police along with the Special Operations Team (SOT) from the LB Nagar Zone.
As per the cops, the accused were smuggling marijuana from Malkangiri in Odisha to Maharashtra via Hyderabad.
The four arrested men. (Supplied)
“About two weeks ago, the three accused from Maharashtra loaded the coconuts bags and left the Ravulapalem village in the Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district of Andhra Pradesh for Malkanjgiri. On reaching there, they contacted Karraiah and collected the consignment,” the police claimed.
The cops added that the accused were hiding the contraband in the coconut bags.
“Gaikwad, the kingpin of the racket, is on good terms with ganja sellers in Malkangiri. He used to procure ganja from Karraiah for around ₹2,000-3,000 per kg,” the police alleged.
The cops added that, the accused planned to sell the marijuana for ₹15,000-20,000 per kg to earn profits.
The police said the accused had already carried out delivery of the contraband three-four times on the instructions of Gaikwad.
