Three held in Delhi with marijuana worth over Rs 2 cr

Three men have been arrested in the national capital with marijuana worth over Rs 2 crore, police said on Tuesday.

The accused were identified as Jaipal Yadav (33), Vikash Kumar (22) and Purshottam Kumar (34), residents of Patna, they said.

"On September 23, police got a tip-off and laid a trap near Najafgarh and two persons (Yadav and Vikas) were apprehended, while they were travelling in a truck," said BK Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime).

A total of 800 Kg marijuana, worth more than Rs 2.4 crore, packed in 32 plastic gunny bags was recovered from the vehicle, police said.

During interrogation, the duo disclosed that the recovered marijuana had been sent by one Purshottam Kumar for smuggling in Delhi, the DCP said.

At their instance, Purshottam was apprehended from Bihar. He disclosed that he had loaded the truck with ganja in Andhra Pradesh and had sent the contraband to Delhi for sale, he said.

Purshottam and his associate Mohammad Salaam have been involved in smuggling since 2010. Purshottam has never been arrested earlier, they said.

Purushotam and Salaam used to travel to Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh almost twice a month to procure the drug from local sources in the jungle and loaded it into trucks for smuggling into various parts of the country, including Delhi and NCR, police said.

Salaam was arrested on September 19 and is presently in jail, they added.