Biggest ganja haul in Bihar after liquor ban; two from Punjab arrested
A joint team of the Bihar police’s special task force (STF) and the Hajipur sadar police, on Sunday, seized 1,750 kg of ganja (hemp) hidden in a secret compartment of a 10-wheel truck, on national highway 77, in the outskirts of the Vaishali district headquarters town of Hajipur, in north Bihar.
Officials said this was the biggest ganja hauls in Bihar, since total liquor ban was imposed on the state on April 5, 2016. Earlier, in August 2016, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had seized 810 kg ganja and arrested three persons near Maithi toll plaza on Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga Road of north Bihar.
Confirming the Sunday seizure, Vaishali superintendent of police (SP) Rakesh Kumar said the contraband was worth well over Rs 1 crore. “Two persons from Punjab have been arrested in connection with the incident. We also believe we have cracked an inter-state gang involved in ganja smuggling”, he added.
The SP said the smugglers had hired a 10-wheel heavy truck from Madhya Pradesh,and engaged its driver and his cleaner from Punjab. “Thereafter, the consignment was picked up from Tripura for delivery in many districts of Bihar, including Vaishali”, he added.
Kumar identified the arrested truck driver as Chanranjeet Singh and his cleaner as Baldeep Singh, both residents of Ludhiana in Punjab.
The STF-Vaishali police team, headed by SHO Sadar Chitranjan Thakur, intercepted the truck, bearing registration number of MP 16H-0409, near Chiall chowk on NH-77. After an intensive search of about 20 minutes, the police team stumbled upon 50 packets of Ganja, each weighing 35 kg, from a secret compartment.
“Smugglers sell ganja to retailers at the rate of Rs 50,00 to Rs 7,000 per kg, easily making this haul worth well over Rs 1 crore. In small pouches, it goes for much more than that rate”, the SP said, adding, it had come to Bihar from Tripura via Siliguri in West Bengal.
“The interrogation of the driver and his cleaner will let us know the exact details of the delivery points in Bihar”, Kumar added.
Other officials said the demand for ganja in Bihar had increased since the imposition of total liquor prohibition in the state. This had given a fillip to smuggling of the intoxicant into the state, in recent months.
