Ongole Deputy Superintendent of Police U. Nagaraju and police personnel with the seized ganja, in Ongole on Friday.
| Photo Credit: KOMMURI SRINIVAS
Prakasam police busted a ganja smuggling racket with the seizure of contraband worth ₹16.50 lakh from eight peddlers, including three from Tamil Nadu and two from Kerala, near Tangutur in Prakasam district late on Thursday.
Addressing the media on Friday, Ongole Deputy Superintendent of Police U. Nagaraju said the offenders had sourced the contraband from the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) region and were moving the same to different locations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Tangutur police booked a case under Section 20-B read with 8(C) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The main accused was identified as K. Naidu, 29, from Narsipatnam, near Anakapalle.
Police also seized a SUV bearing Tamil Nadu registration after nabbing his associates from the neighbouring State. They were identified as P. Dinakar Rajkumar from Dindigul and Abdul Rehman 33, Mohammad 31, both from Coimbatore, the DSP said.
The arrested persons included Sulaiman, 41, and Vineeth, 35, both from Palakkad in Kerala as well as M. Venkanna, 63, from Kondepi in Prakasam district and Ch. Jagadeesh, 23, from Anakapalli.
Superintendent of Police Malika Garg appreciated the police personnel led by the DSP for swiftly cracking the case by tracing the origin of the narcotic substance and to the States where the same was moved to.