3 arrested; 700 kg ganja seized

Three men were arrested for allegedly supplying drugs and ganja weighing about 700 kg was seized from them, police said today.

The ganja was being transported for local storage in Delhi for further distribution to various wholesalers as well as liquor suppliers for barter trade in the NCR.

The accused, suspected to be henchman of Bihar's alleged druglord Vipin Kumar, were identified as Ravi (25), Munna Kumar Jha (30) and Gaya Pal (62), they added.

The police learnt that a huge consignment of ganja belonging to Vipin, is being transported in Delhi in a truck from Odisha and the loaded truck destined towards Goyla Dairy, Najafgarh would pass through Dwarka, said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (Crime).

The Crime Branch team laid a trap near expected place of arrival and the accused were nabbed and a truck loaded with total 700 kg of ganja was seized from them, he added.

Vipin Kumar, a drug and liquor lord of Patna, Bihar procured ganja from Naxal-hit areas of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh for distribution in Delhi and the neighbouring areas.

He used to procure ganja from his contacts in the Naxal-hit states for Rs 1,500 per kg and further sold it for up to Rs 10,000 per kg depending on its quality to various wholesalers in Delhi, Gurgaon, Samalkha, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Noida.

He has more than 50 members in his organised syndicate spread over many states, the official said.

This revenue generated by the sale of ganja was utilised to purchase illicit liquor from various L-1 godowns in Haryana and Punjab. Certain godown owners accepted ganja as payment for the illicit liquor, he added.

This illicit liquor is then supplied to Bihar in the same truck, where it is sold on hefty price as Bihar is a dry state.

This modus operandi multiplies the profits of Vipin Kumar as well as saves him from the hassles of moving money from Delhi to Bihar.

During interrogation, Ravi and Munna revealed that they both belonged to lower middle-class families of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. They were bootleggers by profession and used to supply illicit liquor for Vipin Kumar from Haryana to the dry state of Bihar in their car. But after the accident of their car, they became jobless.

On this, Vipin Kumar offered them to work as his distributor of ganja in Delhi and the adjoining areas. Lured by him, both the accused accepted his offer and started making huge money through this illegal trade, said the senior officer.

The accused earned Rs 500 per kg of ganja smuggled in Delhi. They used to arrange godowns for the consignment on the outskirts of Delhi and Noida and further distribute it to various wholesalers in Delhi and neighboruing on the instructions of Vipin Kumar.

Gaya Pal is a driver by profession and lives in Chhattisgarh with his family. He was searching for a job, when another driver Shambhu took him to Vipin Kumar who offered him handsome money for a single trip to Delhi from Aurangabad, Bihar.

It was his second trip to Delhi and he was supposed to be paid Rs 25,000 for transporting ganja, the officer added.