Malkajgiri special operations team along with local police at Ghatkesar, and at Bhongir town, arrested two persons and seized ganja and hash oil from them.
At Ghatkesar, the police intercepted an auto-rickshaw near Jodimetla crossroads and took one Badavath Ravi into custody. According to the police, a native of Seetampeta Banjara village in Bhadradri Kothagudem, Ravi was transporting ganja from Bhadrachalam to Zaheerabad.
A 2019 graduate, police said Ravi ventured into buying and selling goats. He had visited Chintur Santha, Darukonda Santha of East Godavari district in the journey. He had met one Suresh, a main source, and struck a deal for transporting ganja to various customers.
On Monday, the police on inspecting the autorickshaw over suspicion found packets of ganja tied under the vehicle’s body with ropes, inside the audio speaker boxes, in the rear engine’s unit and under the seating. A total 102 kgs of ganja worth about ₹ 20 lakh was recovered.
Accused Ravi already had figured in the police database allegedly for smuggling Pangolin scales in Ramavaram Forest Range of Kothagudem Forest Department. And also under violations of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in East Godavari. Police is searching for three more accused, including two from Zaheerabad and one person from Mumbai.
In another incident, in Bhongir town police limits, the police intercepted a car and arrested an accused. A total 120 kgs of ganja and two litres of hash oil was recovered in the incident.
Police explained that Sriram Narsimha Chary, a resident of Jeedimetla, took to procuring ganja from Araku and parts of Andhra Pradesh for supplying to a network of buyers in the three police commissionerate limits in Hyderabad.
The accused started off as a carpenter after dropping out of school, but soon started committing house burglaries. The Pet Basheerabad police maintains a suspect sheet, and the Neredmet and Qutbullapur police also arrested him in cases relating to narcotics violations. As per police, the accused was involved in as many as 100 burglary cases in the city.
Police, after arresting him, said the accused had already made deals with buyers and received advance ammounts for ganja. Six other accused were identified by police, based on interrogation, and a search was on. Police estimated the seizure to be worth ₹ 35 lakh.
