Hybrid cannabis seized by Ahmedabad police, three held

Ahmedabad rural police have arrested three men for their alleged involvement in getting hybrid cannabis into India and peddling it, officials said on Friday.

The Ahmedabad district Special Operations Group (SOG) received a tip-off on Tuesday about a Sarkhej resident named Lalit Bais peddling drugs.

Acting on the input, cops caught Bais and found 10.05g of hybrid cannabis and 27.45g of charas on him.

Bais reportedly police that he was a courier for man named Archit Agrawal, a 27-year-old resident of Applewoods Villas in Sanathal.

Bopal police arrested Agrawal and booked him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Agrawal had employed Bais on a monthly salary of Rs 15,000 and had bought him a motorcycle to deliver drugs.

During interrogation, Agrawal led police to a buyer in Gurukul, named Jayraj Patel. 

A joint team from Ahmedabad rural police and Ghatlodia police raided Patel's house on Thursday night and recovered 373g of the cannabis. 

Patel had moved to India from the US in 2020, and currently manufactures and exports LED lights. 

Ahmedabad rural police said they have so far seized 383g of hybrid cannabis and 27.45g of charas, adding that various consignments of the narcotic had been brought into India.

Agrawal had created an Instagram profile on which he would post information about cannabis varieties. Agrawal had been procuring cannabis from Thailand since July 2022.

The contraband would arrive in containers carrying toys and protein powder tins.

His online chats with buyers and drug smugglers abroad revealed transactions worth Rs 98 lakh. 

Police added that Agrawal has another complaint filed against him for running over a 46-year-old man named Balsang Cheharji on July 9. 

The complaint had been filed with M Division traffic police.