BENGALURU: A 27-year-old truck driver, transporting vegetables from Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru, was caught with 110kg of ganja in his possession.
The accused is Shivakumar alias Shiva, resident of Chikkaballapura. Police said they had received information about a drug peddler visiting a BBMP ground near GKW Layout in Rajagopalnagar on Thursday to meet potential buyers. DCP (north) Dharmender Kumar Meena formed a special team led by inspector Ayyanna Reddy and a trap was laid to nab him.
“The accused was caught when he came on a motorbike. When frisked, we found 17kg of ganja in his bag. He was brought to the police station for further investigation. The accused revealed he has more stocked at his house in Chikkaballapura. Our team reached his residence and was surprised to see ganja, weighing around 93kg, stocked inside his bedroom and covered with tarpaulin,” said Meena.
Preliminary investigation revealed Shivakumar had been regularly transporting vegetables and other food items from different parts of Andhra Pradesh to Bengaluru. “The accused is a regular commuter between Vijayawada, Tirupati and Bengaluru. A drug peddler met Shivakumar in Tirupati and sold ganja to him. On Thursday, Shivakumar came to Bengaluru with 17kg of ganja, knowing he could get regular customers in the city and make good money,” said Meena.
An investigating officer said Shivakumar would hide the ganja between other goods in the truck and dump them at his house. “He’d bring 10-15 gunny bags on each trip. Before coming to the city, he would halt at his house and shift the bags,” he said.
As per Shivakumar’s confession, he had been storing ganja for the last five months. “We don’t buy his claim of dealing in ganja for five months. No drug peddler will suddenly supply such huge quantities to a novice, who is a truck driver. Shivakumar seems to have deep contacts in the drug-peddling business and we will question him further,” an investigating officer said. Another officer said they received information from a ganja peddler, currently lodged at Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara.