Police arrest drug peddlers, seize Rs 70 lakh worth of contraband

Suddaguntepalya police have arrested two people involved in drug peddling and seized 214 kg of ganja worth Rs 65 lakh.

The arrested are 48-year-old K Preetipal Rai, known by his other names as Prithvi, Vinay, Guatham Shetty from Bantwal and his 31-year-old associate K Khalandar from Sulya in Dakshina Kannada.

Police said Preetipal, a notorious criminal, was involved in 12 cases at Puttur, Udupi and Bantwal police stations. He was accused of illegally smuggling liquor from Kerala and Goa into Mangaluru and was not attending court hearings after he walked out of bail from prison.

Preetipal traded drugs in Mangaluru and Kasagodu. He sourced large quantity of drugs like ganja from Rajahmundri in Andhra Pradesh and supplied it to local peddlers.

Receiving information that Preetipal and his associates were transporting ganja in a Tempo Traveller, police intercepted the vehicle on Hosur Road on November 28 and seized 248 kilograms of ganja. Investigating on the case, police nabbed two other drug peddlers involved in a separate case and seized 600 grams of charas worth Rs 8 lakh.

The arrested duo amit Kumar (31) and Suraj (32) are Indiranagar residents and hail from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh. Both were caught on Sunday after police received information.

Investigations revealed that the duo sourced Charas from Himachal Pradesh and transported it to Bengaluru to sell it during the New Year's parties. The seized drugs are worth Rs 70 lakh. Further investigations are on.