Bhubaneswar: Acting on a tip-off, police seized 183kg of ganja worth around Rs 90 lakh, allegedly meant for sale to tourists, including foreign visitors, and unaccounted Rs 64.5 lakh in cash from a house in Puri on Friday. Two alleged members of the drug trafficking network were arrested in connection with the seizure.Police said accused Kartika Samantaray (56) and Debendra Kumar Sahoo (55) had been involved in a drug trafficking case in the past. “Under the state govt’s Nasha Mukt Abhiyan, our special squad seized around 183kg of ganja stored in a house at Gopalpur under Penthakota marine police station limits. Samantaray had taken the house on rent. The source of the contraband as well as the unaccounted cash is being investigated,” Puri superintendent of police (SP) Prateek Singh said.During interrogation, the accused allegedly told investigators that the cash was linked to a recent land deal. Police, however, are verifying the claim.Police sources said the accused allegedly procured ganja from Kandhamal and Boudh districts and transported it to Puri. The accused also allegedly planned to supply the contraband to other parts of the state ahead of the upcoming festive season, police said.Singh said the special squad had been monitoring the movements of the accused for nearly a month before acting on the information about the consignment. “We are investigating the entire network to identify the suppliers, transport facilitators, financiers and intended recipients of the consignment. We are mapping both the forward and backward linkages of the syndicate,” the SP said.Police are now examining the financial transactions of the accused and their associates, besides verifying the land deal cited as the source of the seized cash. Police are also trying to establish whether the arrested duo were directly operating the network or working as intermediaries for a larger drug trafficking syndicate.
