Odisha Police have arrested a Karnataka police constable of the Bengaluru police and his three associates on charges of smuggling over 17.5 kg of cannabis.
They were arrested on Wednesday at a bus stop in Kandhamal, said police.
Kandhamal senior police officials said they arrested Anand K, a constable at Jigani police station under Bangalore police district, on November 1 along with three of his associates while they were trying to transport 17.5 kg of dried cannabis flowers to Berhampur town from a bus stop in the area.
Sarangagada police station officers were on patrolling duty near a bus stop when they saw four persons, including the police constable from Bangalore moving suspiciously with four bags, said Kandhamal superintendent of police (SP) Suvendu Patra said on Wednesday (Nov 1).
“When sub-inspector Basudev Sahu asked about the contents of the bags, they said they were from Kamataka Police and visited Kandhamal on special duty in connection with an investigation of an NDPS case. After searching, the bags were found to contain cannabis,” the SP said.
Constable Anand initially said he had come to seize more cannabis from the home of one of the accused, but he fled from their custody, said SP Patra, adding that the constable could not explain why he did not inform the local police station as per procedure.
{{/usCountry}}Constable Anand initially said he had come to seize more cannabis from the home of one of the accused, but he fled from their custody, said SP Patra, adding that the constable could not explain why he did not inform the local police station as per procedure.
{{/usCountry}}When asked about why he was carrying 17.5 kg of cannabis, the constable claimed that the original seizure in the case was less than 5 kg, but they were trying to make the offence severe as the punishment is more in case of seizure is more than 20 kg, the SP said.
“In any case, planting of evidence is a crime,” he added.
During interrogation, it was revealed that the constable wanted to traffic the cannabis to Bangalore and sell it off at Rs.20-30,000 a kg while the same costs Rs.1000-2000 a kg in Odisha, police said.
In 2022-23, Odisha seized over 3,500 quintals of cannabis, its highest-ever seizure.