The police busted an inter-state gang of ganja smugglers on Tuesday-Wednesday, arresting five individuals and recovering 53 kgs of ganja worth ₹8 lakh from them. 

Jamshedpur City SP Mukesh Lunayat addressed media persons informed that there was a tip-off that six international ganja smugglers from Odisha were coming to the Mango bus stand on Tuesday. 

From here they will board a bus to go to Bihar. A team of officers led by Dy.SP( Headquarter) Bhola Prasad reached the Mango bus stand and they were arrested. Also, their bags of ganja were seized, said City SP Mukesh Lunayat. 

Those arrested were identified as Bihar’s Betiya-based Rajkumar Bind, Bakhtiyarpur-based Sumit Kumar and Gowrav Kumar and Raghowpur-based Rajesh Kumar. 

A case has been registered under Sections 08/20/60 of the NDPS Act against the five accused at Jamshedpur police station. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that these ganja smugglers had bought 53 kgs of ganja at Rs 3 lakh from Balangir in Odisha to sell it at different places in Bihar at approximately Rs 8 lakh. 

 Now, Jamshedpur police is planning to launch search operations in Balangir to nab the producer and dealers in Odisha. 

Notably, ganja is extensively cultivated in Jharkhand and Bihar. However, it is available at relatively higher prices than Balangir in Odisha. They reportedly confessed to smuggling ganja from Bihar to Punjab and admitted to being involved in this illicit activity for a considerable period.