IN a major catch, district police sized around 230 kg of cannabis being smuggled in two cars. The market value of the seized cannabis is estimated to be around Rs 20 lakh. Three youths have also been arrested in this connection besides seizure of the cars. Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh received consistent intel about some people smuggling major consignment of cannabis from Odisha and crossing through the outer areas of district. He instructed cyber cell and Pasan police station to activate intelligence network.

On January 11, police received information about some people smuggling cannabis to Pendra. They were crossing through Pasan. Police stationed a team on the way and seeing the police the accused tried to escape breaking the barricades. However, police had stationed two trucks to block any such attempt. The accused tried to flee by leaving the cars behind. However, police managed to catch them. On searching the two cars OD 02 BX 6479 and OD 02 CA 4866, about 230 packets of cannabis were found kept in the car and the material was seized and accused arrested under Section 20B of NDPS Act.

During interrogation, the accused said that they were carrying cannabis from Odisha to Pendra. The dealer is an unknown person and they were in contact through phone. Police is now tracing the number. The accused have been identified as Md Shahid Ansari (27), Arun Sharma (36) and Manoj Sahu (35).