The Bhopal Crime Branch arrested two people and seized over 36.18 kg of charas (hashish) from their possession. This is probably the first time when the police have seized such a huge consignment of hashish in the State in a single raid. The police have estimated the value of seized hashish to be over Rs 12.50 crore. Both the arrested smugglers are residents of Bihar and were hiding in forests near coach factory near Ayodhya Bypass road when they were held, on Thursday. During interrogation, they told the police that Nepalese smugglers transport charas to Bihar. Commissioner Harinarayan Chari Mishra said that the accused confessed that they would procure charas from the people of Bihar at a cheap price and sells it to other smugglers in Bhopal. Even before this, he had sold charas here on a large scale.

 

Commissioner Mishra said that the Crime Branch officials had received information that two people were hiding in the forest with charas stored in large quantity. They were waiting for someone to deliver the booty. The police reached the spot area and quizzed them on the basis of suspicion. They were identified as Vijayshankar Yadav (33) and Harkesh Chaudhary (35), both residents of Gopalganj in Bihar. The police found the hashish kept in their bags. As the accused were quizzed they told that their gang would earn profits worth lakhs of rupees in Bhopal by purchasing charas at cheap rates from smugglers of Bihar. This work of hashish smuggling was ongoing for a long time. Earlier, the Crime Branch had recovered 23 kg of hashish worth over Rs 7.60 crore, a few days ago. The cops said that the accused were being quizzed and they are likely to reveal identities of their handlers in the State.