Four held with 765.6 kg cannabis worth Rs 2.3 cr; interstate narcotics network busted

New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) Four suspected drug traffickers were arrested and 765.6 kg of cannabis, estimated to be worth around Rs 2.3 crore, was seized after police busted an interstate narcotics network with links to Bihar, Odisha, Haryana and Punjab, an officer said on Monday. Police said a team from the outer district busted the racket after developing intelligence and tracking the suspects for more than 36 hours across multiple states. The operation began after a tip-off received on June 20, following which a police team laid a trap near Madhuban Chowk in Pitampura and apprehended Ashok Kumar (40), a resident of Shakurpur in Delhi, with two bags containing 22.610 kg of cannabis. An FIR was registered at Rani Bagh police station on June 21, and Ashok was arrested. During interrogation, he disclosed that the contraband was being supplied by Ajeet Singh from Odisha. Financial investigation and technical surveillance later identified the suspect as Inderjeet Ray, a resident of Patna in Bihar. "Teams tracked Ray's movements from Bihar and after pursuing him through several states, apprehended him along with his associate Nitish Kumar in Ludhiana on July 10," a senior police officer said. Based on their interrogation, police raided a rented godown at Jamalpur in Ludhiana and recovered another 743 kg of cannabis. A third associate, Dharmender Kumar, was also arrested on the spot. Police also recovered Rs 4 lakh in cash, eight mobile phones allegedly used in the operation and 126 grams of gold articles. Police said that the accused used the rented godown to store large consignments of cannabis before supplying them to different locations in Haryana and Punjab. Police are probing the source of the contraband. PTI BM BM MPL MPL