Driver of a container lorry was today arrested for allegedly acting as a carrier in the smuggling of 400 kg of ganja worth about Rs 40 lakh to Sri Lanka from this district, police said.
28-year-old R Nagaraj of Tiruvallur district was arrested when he was returning after allegedly handing over the narcotic to a smuggler who managed to send it to Sri Lanka by a fibre-glass boat from Chinnamayakulam Mangaleswari Nagar sea coast near Thiruppullani, they said.
The worth of the drug was Rs. 40 lakh in the domestic illegal market, police said.
On a tip-off, police headquarters alerted the Tirupullani police to check the container lorry. Police found a secret chamber in the driver's cabin.
When police questioned the driver, he allegedly confessed that "he had collected the ganja from a town in Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border area and handed over the stuff packed in 20 bags to the smuggler and it had been sent to Sri Lanka".
He also told the cops that he had delivered 500 kg ganja to a smuggler in Pudumadam sea coast area some 20 days ago.
The driver also said that he was paid Rs. 15,000 per trip for transporting the narcotic, police said, adding they were on the look out for the two smugglers.
