Over 1.5 ton of cannabis seized, 5 held in Odisha

Bhawanipatna/Jeypore: Over 1.5 ton of cannabis worth Rs 1.22 crore were seized and five suspected drug peddlers arrested in Kalahandi and Koraput districts of Odisha, police said on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, the Jeypore Sadar police station in Koraput busted a drug-smuggling racket on Monday and recovered cannabis weighing 1,008 kg from a truck that was intercepted, police said.

The market value of the drugs is estimated to be over Rs 1 crore. The driver was arrested and later two suppliers were also nabbed, an officer said.

Rs 1.65 lakh in cash, the truck, a car and a motorcycle were seized, he said.

The contraband was going outside the state from Jalaput, he said, adding that more suspects would be arrested.

In Kalahandi district, two persons were arrested after cannabis with an estimated value of Rs 22 lakh was found in a pumpkin-loaded truck, police said.

The truck was intercepted in Kesinga town on Sunday, and the cannabis was found in 280 packets, wrapped in polythene bags and concealed inside a pumpkin shipment, they said.

The contraband, weighing 573.46 kg, was being transported from Padampur in Rayagada district to Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Superintendent of Police Saravana Vivek M said.

The arrested persons were from Uttar Pradesh and produced in a court, he said.

Cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in both the incidents, police said.