The Srirampur police arrested two brothers, both members of an Odisha-based inter-State gang of ganja smugglers, on Wednesday.
On September 22 (last Friday), police seized 465 kgs of ganja, bound for Maharashtra, from a tractor abandoned by the accused on the roadside in Srirampur town of Mancherial district.
The accused have been identified as Jagabandu Krisani, 22, the driver, and his brother Chitrasen Krisani (owner of the tractor), 24, from Chitapari village in Odisha’s Malkangiri district.
The duo allegedly collected ganja from cultivators in Odisha’s Chitrakonda area on the instructions of Eshwar and Guru Krisani on September 22. They concealed the contraband under cement bricks in the tractor and headed towards Maharashtra, and managed to cross the inter-State borders with the contraband in the tractor without a registration number plate.
The duo reportedly abandoned the tractor after its tyre got punctured in Srirampur en route to Maharashtra around midnight on September 22 and took shelter at an undisclosed location.
A police patrol team checked the tractor in the early hours of September 23 and found the contraband as well as a photocopy of the Aadhaar card of the tractor owner.
The subsequent investigation led the police to Balimela in Odisha, where they arrested the duo.
Ramagundam Police Commissioner Rema Rajeshwari told the media in Srirampur on Wednesday that the two from Odisha were arrested and 465 kg ganja worth around ₹93 lakh was seized from their Maharashtra-bound tractor.
Further investigation into the case is under way.
