Father, son held for stashing 6 quintals of ganja for sale during Puri Rath Yatra

BHUBANESWAR: A father-son duo’s maiden attempt to store huge quantities of marijuana to sell to tourists, mostly foreigners, during the Puri Rath Yatra next month backfired with police arresting them on Wednesday and seizing 6 quintals of the contraband worth Rs 60 lakh. This is highest ganja haul in Puri district, the police said.
Police said accused Bijay Kumar Pani (50) and Satrujit Pani (22) found an acute shortage of brown sugar in Puri in view of the continuous enforcement drives by the police. They wanted to take advantage of the void created by the short supply of heroin and procured large quantities of ganja from Koraput with an intention to sell them during the Rath Yatra, starting June 20, which will bring lakhs of visitors. The accused had expected brisk business as ganja is much cheaper than brown sugar.
Acting on a tip-off, the special squad of Puri and personnel of Brahmagiri police station intercepted two cars, one each driven by Bijay and Satrujit, in Gopinathpur area and seized around 94 kg ganja stashed inside the two vehicles. Subsequent searches in their house in Brahmagiri led to further recovery of over five quintals of ganja.
"The accused planned to supply the ganja to some peddlers in and around Puri for the purpose of selling them to tourists during the Rath Yatra. They wanted to create a corridor for the sale of ganja after our crackdown against brown sugar dealers,” Puri SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said.
During interrogation, the accused said the short supply of brown sugar in Puri has also raised its price due to rising demand among the addicts, who included tourists, students and anti-socials. A small pouch containing 200 mg brown sugar, which used to cost around Rs 450 only six months ago, now costs around Rs 1,500, they told the police.
"We have created a database of the offenders booked under the NDPS Act. All police stations have been asked to track their movements after they come out on bail," the SP said.