Nine held, huge amount of ganja, arms recovered in Bengal

Nine people were arrested and ganja worth over Rs.5 crore, besides arms and ammunition including an AK 47 rifle, were seized in West Bengal's Darjeeling district, police said Thursday.

The nine accused were dressed in military fatigues and were arrested from Siliguri in the district late Wednesday night in a joint operation by the police and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

"In a joint operation carried out by the police and DRI, we have confiscated eight tonnes of ganja, a large cache of arms and ammunition including an AK 47, and arrested nine people who were dressed as army officers as they were trying to smuggle the goods to Kolkata from Nagaland," Siliguri Police Commissioner Jagmohan said Thursday.

Police also seized 159 bullets, two rifles, five pistols, over a dozen mobile phones and several fake identity cards.

Jagmohan said the accused hail from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The police are not ruling out the possibility that an international syndicate may be involved.