DRI seizes 635kg cannabis worth ₹1 crore

Mumbai zonal Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials with the help of their Nagpur unit seized 635kg of cannabis worth nearly ₹1 crore from a tempo and

Mumbai zonal Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials with the help of their Nagpur unit seized 635kg of cannabis worth nearly ₹1 crore from a tempo and arrested three people in Nagpur on Wednesday. Investigations revealed that the consignment was being smuggled from Odisha and was set to be delivered either in Pune or Mumbai.

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Acting on inputs, DRI officials intercepted the tempo which was escorted by another vehicle in which the accused were seated.

The three accused — Ishwar Jalinder Disale, Kiran Balu Sathe and Maruti Rajendra Jare — were moving ahead of the tempo to look for nakabandi so that they could timely divert the route.

The three arrested accused claimed they were involved in the racket for monetary gains. However, they did not reveal much information about the kingpin. They have been booked under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and were remanded in judicial custody till July 29 by a Nagpur court.

“We are shocked how a group involved in drug smuggling was moving freely from one state to another during lockdown. This is not possible without influence. We are probing how they managed to pass through various police checks,” said an official part of the investigation.

Anti-narcotics agencies are looking into this trend and checking if the rise in demands of cannabis is due to unavailability of other drugs due to lockdown.