Surat, July 3 (IANS) Three men have been sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment each by a special court in Surat after being convicted in a ganja trafficking case involving the seizure of more than 562 kg of the narcotic, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Friday.

According to the NCB’s Ahmedabad Zonal Unit, the case stemmed from an operation carried out on May 4 and 5, 2020, when officers, acting on specific and reliable intelligence, intercepted three persons at Krishna Industry in Surat’s Kim area.

The operation resulted in the seizure of 562.55 kg of ganja, which investigators said had been transported illegally from Odisha to Gujarat.

The agency said its investigation established a well-organised criminal conspiracy to transport a commercial quantity of ganja across state lines for illicit sale.

The contraband was recovered from the conscious possession of the accused, following which a case was registered under Sections 8(c), 20(b)(ii)(C) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

The NCB filed a complaint before the Special NDPS Court in Surat City in October 2020.

Following the trial before the Court of the 11th Additional District Judge, Surat City, the court delivered its judgment on July 2.

The three convicted persons were identified as Kalu Charan Behra, a resident of Bilipara, Phasi, Kodala in Odisha’s Ganjam district; Sudhir Kumar Swain, a resident of Makrapoli, Gangapur, Ganjam district; and Mithun Pradhan, a resident of Bartulu, Jamuni, also in Ganjam district.

The court sentenced each of the three convicts to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on each.

The NCB said the seized contraband had already been disposed of on a pre-trial basis in accordance with the prescribed procedure.

In a statement, the NCB said, “This conviction reinforces NCB’s commitment to dismantling drug supply chains and ensures that those exploiting inter-state transport channels for narcotics trafficking face the full force of the law.”

The agency also reiterated its commitment to the national vision of a “Drug-Free India (Nasha Mukt Bharat)” and urged the public to share information related to drug trafficking through the MANAS National Narcotics Helpline on the toll-free number, stating that the identity of informants would remain strictly confidential.

–IANS

mys/dan