588 kg ganja from AP seized in Thanjai; 8 held

TIRUCHY/VELLORE: Thanjavur police on Thursday seized 588 kg ganja smuggled from Andhra Pradesh in two different locations and arrested eight persons.

Sources said, DIG (Thanjavur Range) Kayalvizhi after receiving a tip-off that huge quantity of ganja was being smuggled from Andhra Pradesh into Thanjavur, alerted the district police.

On Wednesday night, a special team during vehicle inspection at Peravurani intercepted two persons identified as Ramesh Kumar (40) from Thirumangalam in Madurai and Padayappa (24) from Theni. During inquiries, the duo told the police that they used to steal goats with the help of one Chidambaram (50) from Pinnavasal. Subsequently, police picked up Chidambaram and during interrogation he confessed that he, along with the duo, was smuggling 460 kg ganja from Andhra Pradesh by a lorry and an autorickshaw.

Police seized both the vehicles with ganja and arrested the trio.

Meanwhile, another team spotted five persons, who were loading bundles into a lorry and on suspicion, when the cops tried to check the vehicle all the loaders escaped from the spot. However, all of them were caught after a chase. Police team found 128 kg ganja from the vehicle. The accused were later, identified as Azarudeen (20) from Thirubuvanam, Asif Raja (25) from Nilakottai in Dindigul, Sadam Hussain (30) from Erode, Sanjay (41) from Usilampatti and Manickaraj (37) from Erode.

19 kg ganja, 2 vehicles seized; 5 held in Vellore

Meanwhile in Vellore, police arrested 5 persons and seized 2 vehicles and 19 kg ganja, sources said. Poovarasan (25) of Hosur and Vinod (21) of Tiruchengode were arrested at the border check post at Christianpet when they attempted to smuggle 11 kg ganja through a government bus bound for Cuddalore from Tirupathi.

Another 6.3 kg ganja was seized by Sathuvachary police when they pulled in an individual Eswaran (35) of Andipatti in Vellore. The same evening another 2 kg ganja was seized following the arrest of a long time absconder Rajendran (37) of Thorapadi, and his associate Vimala (41) in Ariyur police limits. A car, a two-wheeler, a weighing machine, 4 mobile phones, 5 ATM cards and 3 bank passbooks were also seized.