Gang of ganja smugglers arrested

Ongole: The Superintendent of Police for Prakasam district AR Damodar, announced that the Podili police have arrested a gang of five individuals involved in ganja smuggling and peddling, as well as in the theft of gold chains across various districts in the state.

The police recovered ganja and gold ornaments worth Rs 23 lakh from the accused.

The SP explained that they took up a special surveillance programme on ganja trafficking, and the local DSPs are supervising the initiative.

He said that acting on a tip off to Podili CI T Venkateswarlu, the Podili SI V Vemana and his team apprehended five persons, Mahedi Hussain of Naupada district in Odisha, Shaik Kruparao of Ongole, Vadisana Venugopal Reddy of Tallur mandal, Shaik Tarun of Chimakurthy and Avula Brahmaiah of Yerragondapalem at the vacant plots behind BSNL Building in Podili on Sunday, and seized 1.350 kg ganja and Rs 6,700 from them.

Mahedi Hussain confessed that he usually purchases ganja in the Visakhapatnam district, on the order of his partner Ravipati Jagadeesh, and hands it over to him at Ongole for local distribution. On Sunday, Mahedi Hussain was caught by police when he was distributing the ganja with the remaining four accused.

Meanwhile, Kruparao was found to be a habitual offender, who snatches gold chains from vulnerable women, and he has eight cases pending at various police stations in the state. He has been involved in 23 cases since 2009.

The police also found that Vadisana Venugopal was connected to 15 theft cases in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, while Shaik Tarun was an accomplice of Venugopal in two cases. Overall, they seized 1,350 grams ganja, 303 grams gold, a motorcycle, and Rs 6,700, all worth Rs 23, 18, 900 in cash from the five accused.

SP Damodar presented appreciation certificates and announced rewards to Darsi DSP B Laxminarayana, Podili CI T Venkateswarlu, Podili SI V Veman, Head Constables K Purnachandra Rao, MD Shakir, S Srinivasarao, Constables Gautam Kumar, Koteswara Rao, Veeraju, and Bala Murali.