BHUBANESWAR/CUTTACK: A huge haul of ganja, valued at over Rs 35 lakh, was seized from two inter-state smugglers from a village under Khurda Sadar police limits after a mid-night swoop by Excise and police.At least five persons, including the two peddlers, have been arrested. The contraband was being packed after it was unloaded from a mini-truck which carried it all the way from Kalimela in Malkangiri district.A joint team of Excise officials and Khurda Police cracked down on the poultry of Maguni Sahu in Chhatipur village where the 768 kg consignment was to be sold to different people.Investigation revealed that the two peddlers Prakash Gupta of Jagdalpur and Sambhu Ray of Raghpur in Bihar had carried out similar operations in the past. Maguni Sahu was acting as the storage agent in the village while two others - Manoranjan Patnaik and Santosh Chhotray - connived with him for disposal of the consignment. “Both Gupta and Ray are inter-state peddlers of ganja and we were tipped off about their movements following intelligence inputs from Excise Commissioner Sudarshan Chhotray,” an official said.An eight-member team, headed by Cuttack Excise Inspector Amarendra Jena, which was waiting for the consignment to arrive conducted the raid about mid-night at Chhatipur in the bordering areas of Puri and Khurda.All the five have been produced before a local court and remanded in judicial custody.
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