: The Sambalpur police arrested three persons in connection with the transportation and sale of contraband in the Kuturajori area under the Sadar police limits and seized 603.03 kg of ganja from their possession on Sunday.
The arrested accused were identified as Lalit Bhoi of Kabrapali, Satish Kumar Pradhan of Kunjelpada and MD Israr of the Sunapali of the city. The contraband seized is worth Rs 36 lakh. A Honda Brio car and three cell phones were also seized by police.
Following a tipoff, Sadar police staffs conducted a raid on the brio car, in which the huge quantity of contraband was hidden to transport it to drug peddlers in the district and also found hoarding of ganja at Kutrajori. The accused were bringing the contraband from Boudh district.
Ahead of the elections, Sambalpur SP Mukesh Kumar Bhamoo has given an order to immediately arrest people involved in illegal transportation and peddling of drugs and contrabands.
Sadar SDPO Tophan Bag said, “We raided the vehicle loaded with one quintal of ganja and also found the hoarding of contraband under bushes totaling six quintals. The three individuals were transporting the ganja from Boudh to Sambalpur town and outside states. We are ascertaining whether the accused have criminal antecedents.”
