Cannabis stashed in cricket bats seized in Odisha, 2 held

With enforcing agencies stepping up vigil, the drug peddlers have resorted to inventive ploys to escape detection. With the arrest of two people while trying to smuggle cannabis by stashing it in cricket bats, the devious design by the drug peddlers to disorient the enforcement agencies came to the fore on Monday in Odisha’s Berhampur city.

The Berhampur Government Railway Police, in coordination with the Railway Protection Force, nabbed two drug peddlers, who were natives of Murshidabad district in West Bengal.

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The duo was detained after they were found carrying suspiciously heavy bundles of backpacks and plastic cricket bats. On thorough verification and following all legal procedures in the presence of the executive magistrate and independent witnesses, 17.500 kilograms of cannabis, locally called Ganja, concealed inside 23 backpacks and 10 cricket bats, was recovered and seized.

Both accused have been arrested under relevant sections of the NDPS Act. Samples have been drawn for chemical examination, and further investigation is underway to identify the source, network, and intended receivers of the contraband, police said.

In the past, cases of seizure of cannabis from ambulances, contraband stashed inside green coconut-laden trucks, and smuggling of ganja in empty oil tankers were reported to escape detection. Cannabis stashed in courier garment packets was also seized in Bhubaneswar in the past months.