Ganja seized

SHILLONG, APR 21: High quality ganja worth around Rs 36 lakh was seized from cement loaded 12-wheeler truck along the Shillong By-pass on Friday afternoon.

Acting on tip off, sleuths of the Customs Headquarter Preventive, Shillong intercepted the truck bearing Tripura registration number near Diengpasoh village along the Shillong By-pass and recovered 728 kgs of ganja.

On rummaging the truck, which was loaded with cement bags, it was found that the entire wooden floor of the truck was falsely elevated by about 3-4 inches thereby creating along the entire length and breadth of the truck where the contraband was found secreted.

According to the Customs, NER, Shillong deputy commissioner Isaac R Kharkongor, the ganja packets around 71 weigh about 10 kgs each were in compressed form and were wrapped with adhesive tapes.

He said that seizure value of the drugs is approximately Rs 36 lakhs in the black market.

“Investigations so far reveal that the ganja was loaded in Tripura and was on its way to Siliguri,” Kharkongor said while informing that the driver of the truck has been arrested and a case registered under the NDPS Act, 1985.

Meanwhile, the Customs have seized over 4500 kgs of illicit contraband from key routes in the North East used by the drug syndicates to ferry the contraband to other parts of the country in the past 18 months.