Noida: Two arrested for smuggling cannabis into city in rental cars

A few kilometres away from the Atta underpass, another abandoned Etah registered SUV (Scorpio-N) was found and 15 to 20 packets of cannabis were found inside the SUV’s bonnet

Noida police on Thursday arrested two men who allegedly smuggled cannabis into Delhi and other National Capital Region (NCR) cities from Odisha, said police, adding that to evade police checking, they used to rent new SUVs and stash the cannabis under the bonnet. Police said 102 kilograms of cannabis, estimated to be worth ₹25 lakh, were recovered from their possession and a case under sections of the NDPS Act was registered against them at Sector 20 police station.

Police recovered more than 100 kilos of cannabis from two rental cars on Thursday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Noida, deputy commissioner of police, Vidya Sagar Mishra said, “On Thursday, around 2am, police were alerted that two men were set to smuggle cannabis into Noida in an SUV.”

“When a team of Sector 20 police stopped a Ghaziabad-registered SUV (Renault Kiger) near the Atta underpass, the car driver tried to escape but he was nabbed. When police team checked his car, cannabis in several bundles was found hidden inside the bonnet,” said DCP Mishra, adding that when he was interrogated, the driver told polie that his accomplice managed to escape as they came to know that police on to them.

“A few kilometres away from the Atta underpass, another abandoned Etah registered SUV (Scorpio-N) was found and 15 to 20 packets of cannabis were found inside the SUV’s bonnet,” said DCP Mishra.

He said, “During the investigation, the suspects revealed that they used to book rental cars online to buy cannabis from Odisha. After getting the cannabis in large quantity into Delhi, they would surrender the car and repeat the same modus operandi again.”

“We are yet to receive information about the car owners, as these vehicles were booked online. The cars have been seized,” said Sector 20, station house office Dharm Prakash Shukla.

The accused were identified as Vikas Sharma, a resident of Ghaziabad and Kapil Chaudhary, a resident of Bijnor, who was arrested by Bijnor police on charges of murder.

“Chaudhary used to drive an auto-rickshaw, but around three months ago, he came in contact with Sharma who was involved in smuggling cannabis into Delhi for the past few months. To earn a quick buck, Sharma was working with his nephew Kunal, who is currently on the run,” said SHO Shukla. Further investigations are underway.