104 kg ganja seized in Thoothukudi

Acting on a tip off, the team led by V Rajkumar Moses, Assistant Commissioner of Customs, intercepted a car after mounting surveillance on the East Coast road at Tharuvaikulam, a coastal hamlet in Thoothukudi district and found four bags full of ganja.

Besides, the car was also seized. Investigations revealed that the accused, who were identified as M Pandi and M Rajai from Madurai, trafficked the drugs from Andhra Pradesh. The duo were about to smuggle the ganja to Sri Lanka through sea route before being arrested. 

The seizure was made under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The seized ganja was worth Rs 15 lakh. After producing it before the court, the seized item would be kept in a designated godown in Madurai. 

Further, the Assistant Commissioner said any person found guilty of smuggling such drug would undergo a maximum of twenty-year imprisonment under provisions of the NDPS Act. It was the first seizure this year under this Division and during last year, two cases concerning drug trafficking were booked, he said.