Noida: An interstate drug smuggling gang was busted by a joint team of police and the anti-narcotics bureau with the arrest of three men and the seizure of more than 165kg of ganja, worth approximately Rs 1 crore in the market, police said.Police have found that the three, Dinesh Pal, Sameer Kumar and Ravi Kumar Sahni, procured ganja from Bhubaneswar in Odisha and transported it through Noida to sell it in Delhi. An officer said they received a tip-off on Wednesday that they would be transporting a consignment that day and intercepted them near Kudi Kheda crossing on the road connecting Dadri to Lal Kuan.A truck fitted with a secret compartment used to conceal the drugs, a car, four mobile phones, Rs 1,980 in cash and a debit card were also recovered from the accused.Pal, Kumar and Sahni are all originally from Bihar and now live in different localities of Delhi and Bihar.According to police, Sahni is in charge of bringing the drugs from Odisha while Pal and Kumar sell the contraband to both wholesale and retail customers in Delhi. They used to buy the ganja for about Rs 15,000 per kg and sell it at nearly four times that price to make a substantial profit.“The accused were attracted to a lavish lifestyle and wanted to make money quickly to meet their expenses and aspirations. Our investigation has revealed that they invested their earnings in vehicles and property,” said DCP (Central Noida) Pravin Ranjan Singh.Police said Pal, allegedly the gang leader, had purchased an SUV, the truck used to transport the contraband and another car that was being operated as a taxi in Delhi. SHO (Badalpur) Vijay Gupta said the truck’s secret compartment had been constructed around two months ago on Pal’s instructions to avoid police finding out about the drugs they were transporting. Sahni had allegedly purchased a house in Mustafabad, Delhi, using profits earned from the drug trade.“We are investigating their supply chain and identifying other people connected with the network,” Gupta said.Police records show that Pal had previously been arrested in a narcotics case in 2021 involving approximately 250kg of ganja, and had spent around 15 months in jail.A case has been registered and the three accused have been booked under sections 8, 20, 29 and 60 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Badalpur police station.
