Mangaluru: Mangaluru CCB police have seized 119 kg ganja and arrested four individuals who were transporting the narcotic from Andhra Pradesh to Mangaluru and Kerala. Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid on February 17 at Mittakodi in Kurnadu village of Ullal taluk and intercepted two vehicles used to smuggle the drugs.The estimated value of the seized ganja is Rs 35 lakh, while the total seizure. A case has been registered at Konaje Police Station.Speaking to reporters City Police Commissioner Anupam Agarwal said that the arrested individuals have been identified as Moydheen Shabbir (38) from Kasaragod in Kerala, Mahesh Dwarikanath Pandey (30) from Maharashtra, currently residing in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, Ajay Krishna (33) from Alappuzha in Kerala and Jeevan Singh (35) from Jind district of Haryana. Police have also seized five mobile phones, fish crates, and other materials used in the transportation of ganja. The accused were procuring ganja from Andhra Pradesh and transporting it through Bengaluru and Mangaluru to sell illegally in Kerala. Police suspect that a larger network is involved in the smuggling racket, and further investigations are underway to track down other individuals associated with the crime.Investigations have revealed that Moydheen Shabbir has 12 previous criminal cases against him in Kasaragod, Manjeshwar, Kumble, and Vidyanagar police stations in Kerala, related to cattle theft, assault, and murder. He was previously arrested in 2023 by the CCB for smuggling 23.25 kg of ganja and had spent over one and a half years in jail before being released on bail six months ago. Mahesh Dwarikanath Pandey has two cases of ganja smuggling registered against him in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. Ajay Krishna has six cases against him in Alappuzha, Kerala, including robbery, assault, drug trafficking, and bank fraud involving fake gold deposits. Jeevan Singh is also linked to a ganja smuggling case in Motukudam, Andhra Pradesh.The operation was guided by Anupam Agarwal and supervised by Deputy Commissioners of Police (Law & Order) Siddharth Goyal and DCP (Crime & Traffic) K Ravishankar. The CCB team, led by ACP Manoj Kumar Naik, included Inspectors Rafiq KM, PSI Sharanappa Bhandari, ASIs Mohan KV, Ram Poojari, Sujan Shetty, and other CCB personnel.
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