New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) In a major crackdown on interstate narcotics trafficking, the Delhi Police have seized 765.6 kg of ganja with an estimated market value of around Rs 2.30 crore and arrested four members of an interstate drug trafficking network, officials said on Monday.

According to officials, the accused were tracked continuously for more than 36 hours across multiple states, including Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, before police teams successfully apprehended them during a coordinated operation.

The operation was carried out as part of the Government’s ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’ and the ongoing campaign against narcotics trafficking. Officials said the Anti-Narcotics Squad of Delhi’s Outer District had developed specific intelligence regarding the movement of drug traffickers and maintained close surveillance in the area before launching the operation.

Police said that on June 20, the Anti-Narcotics Squad of the Outer District received a specific secret input regarding the movement of narcotics. Acting swiftly on the information, Inspector Virender Sindhu, under the close supervision of the ACP (Operations), constituted a dedicated raiding team to identify and apprehend those involved.

Acting on the intelligence, the raiding team conducted an operation near Madhuban Chowk in Pitampura, where one accused, identified as Ashok Kumar, a 40-year-old resident of Shakurpur in Delhi, was intercepted while carrying two bags.

An FSL team was called to the spot, and a search of the bags allegedly led to the recovery of 22.610 kg of ganja.

Following the recovery, a case under Section 20(C) of the NDPS Act was registered at Rani Bagh Police Station. Ashok Kumar was arrested, and the seized ganja was taken into custody as case property.

During sustained interrogation, investigators found that Ashok Kumar had allegedly been involved in transporting a much larger consignment of 285 kg of ganja in a truck.

Police said he had earlier been arrested in a separate case registered under Sections 20(C)/25 of the NDPS Act at Farrukh Nagar Police Station in Haryana’s Gurugram district, where 285 kg of ganja had also been recovered.

Further questioning revealed that a man known as Ajeet Singh had allegedly been supplying ganja from Odisha. Through financial investigation and technical surveillance, investigators identified the suspect as Inderjeet Ray, a resident of Patna in Bihar, who was allegedly using the alias ‘Ajeet Singh’ while dealing with members of the drug trafficking network.

Officials said police teams began tracking Inderjeet Ray from July 9 and monitored his movements continuously for more than 36 hours. Multiple teams followed him from Bihar through several states using sustained technical surveillance before eventually apprehending him along with his associate, Nitish Kumar, from a hotel in Punjab’s Ludhiana on July 10.

During subsequent interrogation, the accused allegedly disclosed that a large consignment of ganja had been transported and stored in a rented godown in Jamalpur, Ludhiana.

Acting immediately on the information, police conducted a raid at the premises and recovered 743 kg of ganja from the godown.

During the raid, another accused, Dharmender Kumar, a resident of Jamalpur in Ludhiana and an alleged associate of Inderjeet Ray, was also arrested in connection with the case.

Confirming the total seizure made during the operation, officials said, “The total quantity of Ganja recovered in the case is 765.6 kg, with an estimated international market value of approximately Rs 2.30 crore.”

During interrogation, the accused allegedly told investigators that the rented godown was being used to store large consignments of ganja before the narcotics were distributed to different locations across Haryana and Punjab.

Police said further investigation is underway to identify other members of the network and trace the source and distribution chain of the seized contraband.

–IANS

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