60 kg ganja seized in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: A habitual drug peddler who came to the city to make some quick money by selling ganja during the Maha Shivaratri festival has been arrested by the city police. Ganja is considered sacred in some temples across the country during Shivaratri. The peddler had come to the city from Andhra Pradesh to sell ganja to devotees coming to Shiva temples on March 1. However the police found out his whereabouts and have recovered nearly 65 kilograms of ganja from him.

The peddler was concealing the ganja inside the bushes and was sending live location to his clients. The latter would then come and pick the stuff from the bushes. His clientele included students and lorry drivers of other states. The peddler has been identifi ed as Vanthala Keshav Rao, hailing from Andhra Pradesh. He has been arrested by the Annapurneshwari Nagar police. The police have recovered 65 kilograms of high quality ganja from him. He has told police that ganja is in high demand during the Maha Shivaratri festival. He was contemplating selling it near the temples on Tuesday. On February 18, the city police arrested four other peddlers identifi ed as Syed Imtiyaz, Ranjith, Pawn and Vinod in Nagarabhavi 2nd stage. The police had recovered around 7.35 kilograms of ganja from the four peddlers. Based on their confession, the police are said to have arrested Rao. The police suspect that Rao must be a main peddler and was supplying ganja to the other four accused.

The Annapurneshwari police have registered a case under NDPS against Rao and have seized his mobile phone to ascertain his clients. Further investigations are on.