In a major breakthrough resembling the movie-style smuggling in Pushpa, the Special Operations Team (SOT) of Maheshwaram Zone, along with Abdullahpurmet police, intercepted a TATA Ultra truck carrying 1,210 kilograms of ganja concealed inside cement bags.
The truck was stopped at Kothaguda X Road on National Highway 65 in Abdullapurmet on Tuesday morning following credible intelligence.
The ganja, worth an estimated Rs 6.25 crore in the illicit market, was neatly wrapped beneath stacks of cement bags and covered with tarpaulin to avoid detection. Police also seized the truck and a mobile phone from the accused.
Commissioner G. Sudheer Babu explained that the smuggling route spanned dense forest regions starting from Malkangiri, Odisha, passing through Kalimela, Dangalam, Mothuguda, Bhadrachalam, Khammam, and Hyderabad, before heading to Rajasthan.
The accused, Vikram Vishnoi alias Vikas (22), a driver and resident of Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, was arrested at the scene.
Investigations revealed that Vikram was recruited by a racket comprising Devilal alias Katu (mediator), Aayub Khan (receiver), and Ramlal (vehicle owner and receiver) — all from Osian Tehsil, Jodhpur. They reportedly paid him Rs 5 lakh per consignment.
Vikram’s journey began with transporting iron materials from Jaipur to Nanded, Maharashtra. He then procured cement bags in Khammam, Telangana, to conceal the ganja supplied by cultivators in Odisha’s forested Malkangiri region. The drugs were packaged in 5 kg packets and stacked beneath the cement before heading toward Rajasthan.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Commissioner G. Sudheer Babu, IPS, with guidance from ADCP Md. Shakir Hussain, ACP P. Sathaiah, and field leadership by Inspector T. Ravi Kumar, SOT Maheshwaram Zone, alongside teams from Abdullahpurmet police.
