Duo gets 10-yr jail term for ganja smuggling

CHENNAI: An NDPS special court on Friday sentenced two persons including a woman to ten years imprisonment after they were found guilty of smuggling 62.6 kg of ganja.

The accused, M Shanmugapriya and M A Srimanikandan- both from Pudukottai, were arrested by the NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) sleuths on August 10, 2019, at Egmore railway station.

On August 9, 2019, the two of them had boarded a flight from Chennai to Visakapatnam. On the same day, they had procured the ganja and loaded them in trolleys and boarded a train from Visakhapatnam in the Bhubaneshwar-Rameshwaram Express.

NCB officials received a tip-off about inter-state smuggling of ganja and their officials were waiting at the Egmore railway station. When the train reached the station, the officials had boarded the 3rd A/C compartment after confirming that Shanmugapriya and Srimanikandan were traveling in the coach.

On checking their baggage, NCB officials found the ganja in their trolley bags after which they were arrested. The duo have been incarcerated since then. When the case came up for trial, Special Judge, J Juliet Pushpa held that the prosecution has proved the contentions against the accused with documentary evidence and held them guilty.

“Persons who are dealing in narcotic drugs are instruments in inflicting death blow to number of innocent young victims who are vulnerable. Illegal trafficking of such drugs and substances shall lay to drug addiction among a sizeable section of the public, particularly the adolescents and students of both sexes and the menace has assumed serious and alarming proportions in the recent years,” the judge noted and sentenced them to ten years. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 2 lakh each on them.