Inter-State ganja racket busted in Warangal

Task Force police arrest two peddlers with 32kg cannabis at Warangal railway station

Warangal: The Task Force sleuths and Inthejargunj police in a joint operation have busted an inter-State ganja smuggling gang and arrested two members of the gang on Friday, and seized 32 kgs of dry ganja (cannabis) which was estimated at Rs 3.20 lakh.

The arrested persons were identified as Dwarapudi Mani Kumar alias Durga of Peddaghollapalem village of Yalamanchili mandal of Vishakapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh State and Banothu Bichya of Thopanagadda Thanda, Chennaraopet mandal of Warangal district. They have been arrested near Warangal railway station. Warangal Police Commissioner Dr Tarun Joshi said that the police seized 16 packets, each packet containing two kgs of dry ganja, from their possession. “The Inthejargunj police have registered a case under Section 8(C) R/W 20 (b),(ii),(C) of NDPS Act and are investigating into the matter,” he said, adding, the accused, Dwarapudi Mani Kumar along with his maternal uncle Godi Shankar Rao of Benugopula Patnam of B B Patnam village in Narsipatnam mandal in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, who is the kingpin of the gang, had started supplying of dry ganja to Maharastra, Mulugu and Narsampet areas at high price through trains for the last four years.

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“They have been procuring the contraband from Downuru, Chinthapalli and Narsipatnam areas and packing it in two-kg packets and after getting the orders from the parties, they used to handed over to Banothu Bichya, who was working as the ‘transporter’ and Daravath Maheshwari, currently lodged in Chandrapoor jail, for transporting the ganja,” the CP said, and added that both Bichya and Maheshwar had transported the ganja several times successfully in the past to the ‘destinations’.

“Godi Shankar Rao of Benugopulapatnam, and Daravath Maheshwari alias Reshma of Somla Thanda of Mallampalli mandal of Mulugu district, and more accused, the receiver from Maharastra State, who is yet to be identified, are yet to be arrested by the police in this ganja smuggling racket,” Joshi added. The CP appreciated ACP (Task Force) Vaibhav Gaikwad, Task Force Inspector Ch Srinivas Ji, Santhosh, Inthejarganj Inspector Mallesham, SI Swamy, and others for nabbing the inter-State gang of ganja peddlers.

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