Mahabubabad: The Nellikuduru police arrested three persons and seized 150 kg of ganja, estimated to be worth Rs.46 lakh, from them.
The arrested persons were Pujari Naresh, Guguloth Venkatesh and Chintala Anil, all hailing from Mahabubabad district. The primary accused, Jatoth Sunil, is absconding.
SP Sharath Chandra Pawar said Sunil was a habitual offender and was smuggling ganja from Bhadrachalam and Sileru areas by purchasing at low rates and selling the same in Hyderabad at higher rates. He was arrested under the NDPS Act in 2019 and 2020 and had served jail time.
“Sunil had stored dry ganja near his farm in a Thanda. On May 10, Naresh contacted him and expressed interest in purchasing dry ganja for transport to Hyderabad. Following this, Venkatesh and Anil were roped in to transport the drugs using two cars,” the SP said, adding that the police intercepted the vehicles during a vehicle search at Sriramagiri crossroad. While Sunil managed to escape, the three others were taken into custody.