Chennai: Two caught smuggling ganja in ‘I-T’ car

CHENNAI: Police on Saturday night arrested two people including a woman in Choolaimedu after they were found smuggling ganja in a car. A hunt is on for the driver of the car who managed to escape on seeing the team of officers checking vehicles.
An officer said three people were travelling in the car which sported a yellow board as well as a board saying Income Tax when it was intercepted near the junction of Anna Nedumpathai and Periyar Pathai in Choolaimedu.
On seeing the police team, the driver, who was later identified as Murugan, escaped from the spot. Police caught hold of the two people in the rear seats. They identified themselves as Murugan, 25 of Tiruvannamalai and Vani, 34 of Srinivasan Street, Korattur, and were found in possession of 1kg of ganja in a bag.
Subsequent inquiries with the arrested people revealed that Murugan had been driving the cab, belonging to a private company, for driving an income officer to and from his office every day. The officer had gone to Palani in Dindigul district and Murugan is believed to have used the car for smuggling the ganja, police said. The car was not seized.
With the help of the inputs given by the arrested people, police raided Vani’s house in Korattur and seized 14kg of ganja. Vani, who had been living by herself after separating from her husband, used her house to store the smuggled narcotics, the police officer said. The arrested people were produced before a magistrate and were remanded in judicial custody in the prison concerned.
Police suspect the three are part of an elaborate racket involved in smuggling the narcotic from Andhra Pradesh. The details of the consignor and consignee would be known only after the main accused was nabbed. A probe is on to know if the driver had misused the hired car for a long time for other operations. The Income Tax department board was used to hoodwink police, the officer said.
As part of the city police’s Drive Against Drugs (DAD), special teams have been conducting checks and raids across the city including undertaking operations to check smuggling and illegal sale of narcotics. Besides apprehending those who were involved in smuggling of the contraband, the teams have been asked to find out the source of supply.