546 kg of ganja seized from a house near Kenikarai

 Ramanathapuram district police seized 564 kg of ganja stored in a house near Kenikarai here on Wednesday.  

Superintendent of Police G. Chandeesh, speaking to the press, said the information obtained through observing an accused led them to the 10 accused and the seizure of huge consignment.

“As the Kenikarai police and the special branch police identified and monitored the recent active movement of an accused, the conspiracy of smuggling a huge quantity of ganja to Sri Lankan came to light through him,” he added.  

Based on that, they arrested 10 men – Vigneshkumar, 30, of Manamadurai; Sanjeev, 22, of Pudukottai; Ranjith, 30, of Vedhalai; Yogeshkumar, 25, Mugeshkannan, 22, Prakash, 22, Karanraj, 23, Hariharan, 19, of Mandapam fishermen colony; and Kumaresan, 23 and Balakrishnan, 19, of Mandapam Valaiyarvadi. 

On further investigation, they led them to the house at Therku Vani Veethi village, where the ganja was concealed, he said.  

Though the operation has stopped the ganja from being smuggled to Sri Lanka by nabbing the local network, the kingpins and those planned the smuggling were yet to be identified and traced, he noted.  

“The preliminary investigation has revealed that the ganja was transported from Andhra Pradesh by concealing it in groceries goods which were brought to the district,” Mr. Chandeesh said.

“It could be made sure that it was the single largest seizure in the State for this year. The 272 km coastline of the district makes it a conducive location to move illegal goods in and out of the country,” he stated. 

However, through intensive raids and monitoring illegal activities, the police, in co-ordination with the other forces, were able to control most of the activities, he added. 

Making note that a few of the fishermen were in association with the criminals in smuggling the illegal goods, he said they should refrain from such activities to keep themselves away from the strict legal actions.

With this seizure, the total ganga seized in the district stood at 975 kg. In addition, 3,500 kg of banned tobacco products were seized with the arrest of 359 accused, Mr. Chandeesh recalled.