In order to repay his loan, a 25-year-old Australian university graduate allegedly started peddling marijuana to students in the twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida. The man, along with his accomplice, was arrested on Wednesday night, police said. Police recovered Rs 2.36 lakh in cash, 1.7kg marijuana and a car from their possession.

The accused, identified as Kanav Ahuja who is a resident of Sarita Vihar in Delhi, was living in a rented accommodation in Supertech Capetown, Sector 74, police said. He had studied Bachelor of Media in an Australian university till 2017, before returning to India to explore business opportunities.

Vimal Kumar Singh, circle officer (CO) Noida III, said that Ahuja was arrested with accomplice, Jaspreet Singh, near Sector 78 around 11.30pm during a routine checking drive. “The traffic cops signalled the two accused travelling in a Honda Civic car to stop for checking. The accused failed to provide registration papers of the car. Police checked the vehicle and found 1.7kg marijuana from the car,” he said.

Singh said that the accused allegedly smuggled marijuana on the pretext of getting organic fruits from Shillong. Ahuja would get marijuana by train with the consignment of some organic fruits. “He used to get the supply once in a month and collected the parcel from the client at New Delhi or Ghaziabad railway stations. Then he would contact students of various private universities and colleges to sell the drug in small quantities in Noida and Greater Noida,” said the CO.

Police said that Ahuja had studied in Australia and returned to India two years ago. “He started an organic food business and took Rs 6 lakh loan. However, the business failed and he decided to make money by selling these products,” said the CO.

According to police, Ahuja used to sell marijuana to students at a price ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 500. He had been involved in the business for the past six months. Police said the two accused belong to well-off business families, which had no information about their wards’ involvement in such deals. “We have registered a case against them under Section 8 /20 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. They were produced in court and sent to judicial custody. We are investigating the ring to know who all are involved in the network,” police said.

First Published: Jun 07, 2019 09:42 IST