Four men arrested for smuggling 26kg of ganja

MADURAI: Karupayurani police arrested four youth and are on the look out for nine more of the 13-member gang who were intercepted while smuggling ganja in cars on Saturday night. Police seized 26 kg of ganja from the arrested and seized the vehicle used for ganja peddling.
Based on a tip-off about ganja peddling being carried out in the locality, police were asked to carry out intense vehicle checks in the district.The Karupayurani police were involved in vehicle checks at Vandiyur Ring Road on Saturday night. During the check, they intercepted two cars but they attempted to speed away. Police were able to round up one vehicle and nabbed four out of the 13-member gang while the nine managed to flee from the spot in another car. Upon checking the car, police stumbled upon the ganja bag hidden inside the vehicle.
The arrested were identified as P Sathish, 30, from Sakkimangalam, N Dharmaraj alias Dharma, 19, A Kubendran, 28, from Andipatti in Theni district and J Selvakumar, 19, from Kudalpudur. Police suspect that the gang could have smuggled ganja from Theni district and could have been involved in distributing it as smaller packages of 1 kg to small dealers on the way. There is also another suspicion that they could have smuggled the contraband from Andhra Pradesh to Madurai through some means and supplying it to local ganja peddlers in the area.
"We are thoroughly investigating from various angles on how the gang was smuggling ganja. We are also looking out for the rest of the gang members who managed to flee from the spot. They will be arrested soon," a police official said. Police also seized the car through which they were transporting the contraband.
The 26 kg consignment seized by the police was one of the larger quantities this year after police cracked down on many peddlers last year. The major hauls this year included the seizure of 220 kg of ganja in Dindigul in June where a school teacher was involved. Another important seizure was in January, where the police intercepted a gang smuggling 148 kg of the contraband in Madurai and four ganja peddlers were arrested.