Malkangiri

Ganjam

Odisha

Lande

Naxalites

In their second big seizure this year, police have arrested four people with drugs sourced from Naxal-infested areas ofandin Odisha; cops also suspect one of the arrested accused’s brother is an active Naxal rebel.The Mumbai police may have stumbled upon a major funding operation of the Naxals in Mumbai with the busting of a big drugs racket recently. The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai Police on Friday arrested four people from Ghatkopar and seized about 28 kilograms of marijuana (cannabis) from their possession. The seized consignment’s market value is said to Rs 3 lakh.The arrests have unravelled a huge Naxal conspiracy taking place right under the noses of the police. Investigations have found that cannabis grown in areas under the control of the Naxalite guerrillas, on the eastern parts of the country, was being systematically smuggled into Mumbai and the money was possibly being used to fund Naxal activities.Acting on a tip off, the ANC in a joint operation with the Mumbai police arrested Indrapradhan Laddukishor, Prashant Jena, Kalia Prakash and Narayan Dhanurjay from Ghatkopar and seized the drugs from their possession. All of them been remanded in police custody for seven days.During their interrogation, they have revealed that the four were part of an inter-state smuggling cartel and had smuggled cannabis into Mumbai on at least five previous occasions. The latest cannabis consignment was shipped from the Naxal-affected districts of Ganjam and Malkangiri in, police sources confirmed.Also, the seized cannabis is dense and frosty, generally obtained from high-quality weeds, confirmed police sources.“We have reasons to believe that the cannabis seized by us was smuggled into Mumbai from the Naxalcontrolled areas. Also there is a possibility that Indrapradhan’s brother is an active Naxal cadre member or is a staunch sympathizer of the Naxal-Maoist movement. He might have been instrumental in acting as an intermediary between the rebels and the smugglers,” Mumbai Anti- Narcotics Cell head Shivdeeptold Mumbai Mirror.Sources said the cannabis is a “cash crop” for the, who run and manage the “network of extortion and narcotics cultivation” to fund their movement. “Mumbai is a favoured destination because getting customers or traders is easy,” said an official.“Also cultivation of cannabis makes for easy money for the Naxal guerrillas and helps sustain their jungle warfare campaign. It also ensures they establish traction in several districts across the country,” said an intelligence official. The Naxals have a network of sympathizers in the peripheral districts of Mumbai, who often help the cartels in securing a toehold in the city, said another police officer.In March this year, the Mumbai police had seized 110 kgs of cannabis worth over Rs 22 lakh and arrested six accused. Interestingly, the arrested accused were all part of a single family that was being used as “cover” by the Naxals to push cannabis into Mumbai.“It is part of a trend that cannabis grown in remote Naxal-controlled territory is being smuggled out and ferried to major urban centres like Mumbai,” Lande added.