Cops unearth new source of marijuana, seize 800kg

NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch has not only made the biggest seizure of marijuana this year, but also unearthed a new source from where the contraband was being supplied to the city’s youngsters. Two men were arrested on Thursday along with a truck filled with 800kg of marijuana, which had been shipped from a remote location near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Till now, the consignments seized were usually from Odisha. This cartel comprises suppliers from Delhi and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.
DCP (Crime) Joy Tirkey said the arrested men are Mohammed Kajim Laddan from Nangloi in Delhi and Dinesh Kumar from Mirzapur. “The value of the seized contraband is around Rs 2.5 crore. The two men were produced in court on Friday and taken on 10 days’ remand for interrogation,” he added. The truck, which has a Nagaland registration number, has been seized.
Sources said police are looking for Salam, a resident of Delhi, Anand Pandey from Mirzapur and Mohammed Anwar from Visakhapatnam. Pandey is believed to be the kingpin.
A tip-off about the truck containing marijuana was received by head constable Sandeep from special operations squad. A team comprising ACP Arvind Yadav, inspector Alok Rajan and others laid a trap near Bawana industrial area and arrested the two men.
Laddan told police that Salam had introduced him to this trade two years ago. He had been travelling to Visakhapatnam by train to buy ganja since March. Kumar was a conduit for Pandey. His job was to go to Visakhapatnam with an empty truck. Salam and Pandey would reach there by air.
After finalising the deal on behalf of buyers, Kumar would call one Anwar, who would send an associate to take him deep inside the jungles on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam. Ganja would then be loaded onto the truck. Kumar would then drive to UP, Rajasthan or Delhi where the buyer wanted the delivery. In this case, Kumar was accompanying Laddan, the buyer, and they had never met before.