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Chandigarh police bust drug supply ring; arrest farmer, supplier, peddler
Farmer had been cultivating cannabis in Kullu, preparing charas and selling it to the supplier, who further provided it to the drug peddler, say Chandigarh Police
The anti-narcotic task force (ANTF) of the Chandigarh Police has unearthed a drug supply racket with the arrest of three men, including a charas farmer, supplier and drug peddler, through an inter-state operation spanning a week.
An ANTF team led by inspector Satvinder, under the supervision of SP Ketan Bansal and DSP Uday Pal Singh, arrested the drug peddler, Rakesh Kumar, alias Rakku, 30, of Nayagaon, Mohali; supplier Shanta Kumar, 35, of Karsog, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh (HP); and farmer Sham Chand, 25, of Kullu, HP.
Rakesh was the first to be arrested on May 30. He was commuting in a white Maruti Suziki Swift, when he was stopped at a naka on the road between Sector 1/2/3 Chowk and 82 Battalion, Sector 1.
On searching his vehicle, police had recovered 854 gm charas and a country made pistol, along with a live cartridge, from it, following which a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered at the Sector 3 police station.
Rakesh, a property dealer and also a dealer of used cars, was produced before a local court that had sent him to five-day police remand.
During interrogation, Rakesh disclosed that he had purchased the drug from a Himachal-based supplier, Shanta Kumar.
Rakesh, according to the police, previously worked as a bouncer at a club, where he came in contact with some drug addicts and started selling drugs to them. “He has been selling charas for the last 12 years. Rakesh used to purchase charas from Shanta and further sold it to his permanent customers, including students. He was earlier also arrested by Chandigarh Police in another NDPS Act case,” a police official said.
Acting upon Rakesh’s disclosure, a raid was conducted at Lakheri village in Mandi, HP, and Shanta was arrested. He is facing another NDPS Act case in Shimla.
Through Shanta’s interrogation, police learnt that he had been purchasing charas from a farmer, Sham Chand, following which ANTF reached Kullu on Sunday and arrested Sham, who farmed cannabis in a forest area, prepared charas and sold it to suppliers.
While Rakesh was sent to judicial custody on Sunday by a local court, Shanta and Sham remain in police custody. Further investigation is underway to uncover their network, said police.
