Four peddlers identified as Vikas Baban Salve, Vinod Chandravan Kalkar, Kishore Thulshiram Wadekar, and Kosa Chitti Babu were apprehended near Prakash Gardens, NH-163 Warangal – Hyderabad Highway, Alair town & mandal, Yadadri Bhongir district.
The accused, Yogesh Dattu Gaikwad, devised a scheme to earn easy money by transporting/selling Ganja to needy customers in Maharashtra State, and he offered good share amounts to his friends, namely, Vikas Baban Salve, Vinod ChandravanKalkar, and Kishore Thulshiram Wadekar, who accepted his scheme.
He was introduced to Palasi Karraiah, who is a ganja supplier in Malkangiri, Odisha, by his associates and used to collect ganja packets. He started the illegal transportation of the ganja under the cover of a coconut load to mislead and escape from police checking.
Gaikwad has been identified as the main kingpin in the racket and has good terms with the Ganja sellers at Malkangiri in Odisha State.
He used to procure ganja from Palasi Karraiah of Malkangiri, Odisha State for Rs 2,000 to 3,000 per kg and transport the same to Maharashtra with the help of his associates Vikas Baban Salve, Vinod Chandravan Kalkar, Kishore Thulshiram Wadekar and Kosa Chitti Babu in a DCM. The accused sold the drugs for Rs 15,000 to Rs. 20,000/- per kg.
Earlier, as per the instructions of Yogesh Dattu Gaikwad, the accused persons left Maharashtra with an empty Eicher DCM vehicle and went to Ravulapalem (V), East Godavari (D) of Andhra Pradesh and loaded the coconut bags thereafter. They left Ravulapalem and proceeded to Malkanjgiri in Odisha state.
He then contacted Palasi Karraiah and collected the ganja packets by concealing them under the coconut load. They then proceeded to Maharashtra via Hyderabad. The accused, Kosa Chitti Babu, used to guide the routes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to the accused persons for passing without any interruption.
On reliable information, the sleuths of SOT, LB Nagar Zone along with the Alair police of Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, intercepted the One Eicher (DCM) at Alair X Road.