The relentless crackdown against the illegal narcotics by the enforcement agencies has forced the smugglers to use courier services to traffic the contrabands out of State.
In such an incident, the Commissionerate police on Sunday stumbled upon a racket that was smuggling ganja to New Delhi by courier services in Bhubaneswar.
Two Delhi-based youth were arrested in this connection.The accused used to smuggle the ganja by concealing the contraband in garment consignments through private courier services.
Around 45 kg of ganja worth over Rs 3 lakh has been seized, Zone-V ACP Sanjiv Satpathy said. Preliminary probe revealed that the accused were staying at a rented house in the city. They used to procure the contraband from different peddlers in Gajapati district.“One of the accused would send the ganja in garments consignments through courier while the other used to receive the delivery at designated addresses in the national capital. It appears to be a well-organised racket. We are also investigating the role of the courier company,” said Satpathy.
The accused were successful in sending four consignments to Delhi from here through the courier company.
Based on intelligence input, a raid was conducted at the courier agency and the contraband was recovered from packets of garments.
“The Delhi youths have links with some agents in Odisha. As the investigation is still continuing, it will not be appropriate to reveal more information.
However, we will take them on remand . We will also examine what protocol is being followed by the courier companies and will take appropriate action if we find any lapses,” Satpathy said.