In a major crackdown on drug trafficking, the Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement on Tuesday announced the dismantling of a large interstate ganja smuggling syndicate, seizing 847 kilograms of high-grade ganja valued at over ₹4.2 crore in the illegal market. Two habitual offenders from Odisha were arrested during the operation.
According to Superintendent of Police Ch Rupesh, the bust is one of the most significant and meticulously executed anti-drug operations of 2025, targeting a smuggling corridor stretching from Malkangiri (Odisha) to Uttar Pradesh via Telangana and Karnataka.
Acting on credible intelligence, enforcement teams intercepted a pick-up truck on August 4 near Shamshabad Road and recovered 847 kg of ganja from the vehicle. The two accused—Khilla Dhana and Rajendar B—were taken into custody on the spot.
As per an official release, the syndicate’s mastermind, Ramesh Sukri, operated out of Malkangiri and was linked to the accused through village networks. Another associate, Jagadish Kuldeep, procured bulk ganja from local cultivators identified as Shibo and Basu in remote forest regions.
Ten days prior to the bust, the syndicate’s main buyer, Shaffiq from Uttar Pradesh, had delivered the pick-up vehicle to Ramesh and instructed that it be loaded with 800 kg of ganja for delivery in UP via Shamshabad.
The gang employed sophisticated smuggling techniques: the contraband was first moved in smaller loads to village outskirts, then repacked into brown tape-wrapped packets to mask odours. They used the Bengaluru National Highway and Outer Ring Road to bypass checkpoints and arranged handovers on the city’s outskirts to reduce detection risk.
Communications were kept minimal, feature phones with fresh SIM cards were used and discarded after each trip. In a disturbing detail, one of the arrested individuals, Khilla, was found carrying a sword concealed among the bags for "security purposes".
This bust has severely disrupted a key ganja supply route to North India, authorities said. Efforts are ongoing to apprehend other absconding members of the syndicate. Financial investigations and property attachment proceedings under the NDPS Act and BNSS have also been initiated.