2300-kg ganja seized in Imphal, five arrested

IMPHAL, May 14 ? In one of the biggest hauls of contraband a police team of the Lamlai police station in Imphal East seized around 2300 kgs ganja worth Rs 6,44,000 in local market here from a truck at Lamlai check post on Sunday. The seizure of the huge quantity of contraband ganja took place when the team carried out a first-king programme along the Imphal-Ukhrul road in Lamlai area. The ganja was packed in 115 packets of 20 kg each and were concealed beneath logs. Police said the ganja was brought from Sanakeithel area. The police team arrested five persons, including the driver of the truck (MNA-723) and they were later detained for further interrogation. An FIR has been registered.

Another source said that the truck used in the smuggling of the contraband ganja has been confiscated. The price of the ganja is estimated at Rs 41,40,000 in the Guwahati market and Rs 46,00,000 in the Bihar market.

Meanwhile, altogether around 200 kgs of ganja were detected and seized from two Guwahati-bound buses from Imphal at the New Field check post in Dimapur district in Nagaland on Friday. The two Guwahati-bound Imphal bus bearing the numbers MN01-1226 and MN01-1184 were reported to be transporting SSB personnel.

The Dimapur police has registered a case in this regard. At the same time, the two buses along with the personnel involved were detained for interrogation. It may be noted here that the seizure of contraband ganja from the Guwahati-bound buses or trucks from Imphal is not a new occurrence. It had been continuing since the past couple of decades. In recent past too, some of the Manipur Rifles? jawans were detained outside the State for their involvement in transporting the ganja from Manipur to other parts of the country. There are also records of transporting ganja to other States by some paramilitary forces in the past.