PANAJI
Two days following a crackdown on drugs valued at Rs 10 lakh, the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) arrested a local for allegedly possessing Rs 55 lakh worth of ganja and charas, smuggled from Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh into Goa.
Manish Mahadeshwar, 44-year-old from Mapusa, was caught with 30 kgs of ganja and 5 kgs of charas during an early morning raid on Saturday.
“Mahadeshwar was waiting near the Mapusa-Porvorim highway with the illicit consignment in his car when our team intercepted him and caught him red-handed with the consignment,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Nerlon Albuquerque said. This is said to be the biggest haul in the recent past with the officer claiming that the raid comes a week after the ANC was working undercover in and around Mapusa area.
“Preliminary inquiry revealed the accused has an inter-state connection where he used to procure ganja from Karnataka and charas from the hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh,” DySP Albuquerque said.
On January 10, an Odisha native Ranjit Nayak, aged 19 years, who relocated to Goa just a week before his arrest and found a job as a helper at a local restaurant, was arrested on charges of trafficking a consignment of 10kgs of ganja, valued at Rs 10 lakh in the international market.
Director General of Police Jashpal Singh said, “The ANC team would be suitably rewarded.”
