In a major narcotics bust, excise officials on Sunday arrested four youths for smuggling 95 kg of ganja into the city.
A team led by Assistant Excise Commissioner T. Anikumar, who heads the State Excise Enforcement Squad, arrested Ratheesh R., 36, of Karinkadamugal near Tiruvallam. aka Chokkan; Ratheesh SR, 42, of Menilam near Thiruvallam; Vishnu alias Bolero Vishnu, 31, a resident of Kalliyur; and Akhil, alias Bolt, 25, a resident of Neyyattinkara in Kannettumukku near Thycaud.
The first three accused are suspected to have smuggled the drug in 46 packets from Vijayawada. To avoid suspicion, he took Vishnu’s wife and three children with him to Vijayawada. Akhil had reached the spot allegedly to collect the consignment in the city.
The gang allegedly hired a vehicle on May 1 from a native of Sasthamangalam, claiming that they were going to Kanyakumari for a holiday trip. Unknown to them, the vehicle owner had been tracking their movements through the GPS-tracking system in the car. When the vehicle reached near Andhra Pradesh, about 1,600 km away, it alerted the excise department.
The excise team chased the vehicle as soon as it reached the interstate border at Amarvila. They corner the gang as soon as they reach Kannettumukku, Vishnu’s wife and children manage to escape in another vehicle. Some of those arrested are suspected to be involved in the racket of selling ganja at Manaviyam Veedhi and other places in the city.
Law enforcers suspect that the gang could have smuggled huge quantities of ganja to supply among youths in the vicinity of educational institutions ahead of their reopening next month.