Mumbai police seize 1,800 kg of ganja hidden under coconuts, arrest two
Mumbai's Anti-Narcotics Cell intercepted a truck on the Eastern Express Highway near Vikhroli on 12 February 2021 and seized 1,800 kg of ganja smuggled from Odisha under a consignment of coconuts. Two men were arrested, and police named an Odisha-based kingpin and a Thane-based handler as the racket's leaders.
🇮🇳 Eastern Express Highway near Vikhroli, Mumbai, Maharashtra · India
Acting on a tip-off, the Ghatkopar unit of the Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) laid a trap and intercepted a truck at a foot-over bridge on the Eastern Express Highway in suburban Vikhroli on the evening of Friday 12 February 2021.[1][2]Inside, officers found 1,800 kg of ganja concealed under a consignment of coconuts, smuggled from Odisha and worth Rs 3.5 crore according to the police.[1][2]
Two men, 25-year-old Akash Yadav and Dineshkumar Saroj, were arrested at the spot; police said they worked as the truck’s driver and cleaner.[1][2]Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Milind Bharambe said the gang hired trucks from Mumbai under the guise of importing coconuts but used them to smuggle ganja, bringing about five tonnes into Maharashtra every month with three to four tonnes distributed in Mumbai and neighbouring districts.[1]
The police identified the inter-state racket’s kingpin as Laxmikant Pradhan of Ganjam district in Odisha, acting on information from the Odisha Police, and said the consignment’s Mumbai handler was Sandeep Satpute, who allegedly ran the syndicate from Bhiwandi and owned the godown where the ganja was kept.[1][2]A warrant was issued for Satpute, a resident of Louis Wadi in Thane, and the ANC was also probing how the smugglers crossed Naxal-affected areas in Andhra Pradesh to reach Maharashtra.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Police in Thoothukudi district arrested Balamurugan, 26, and seized 7 kg of ganja he was keeping for sale in Prakash Nagar, in the Pudukottai police limits. Inspector Ramakrishnan led the search, a case was registered, and the investigation was continuing.
Rajasthan Police CID Crime Branch stopped a Swift car in the Balara police-station area of Sikar late on 11 November 2026 and seized 41.51 kg of ganja. Officers arrested Jhunjhunu resident Rakesh Kumar under the NDPS Act and were searching for a companion he named as the owner of the drugs and the car.
Excise Enforcement officials in Bhadrachalam, Telangana, seized 11.6 kg of dry ganja from a motorcycle during vehicle checks near a sand reach on the Kunavaram–Bhadrachalam road on 11 November 2026 and apprehended two men. The pair, residents of Bharat Nagar in Siddipet district, were allegedly transporting the consignment from Malkangiri to Siddipet.
At a Kurnool Narcotics Coordination Centre meeting, police said they had seized 1.5 kg of ganja in taluka limits and another 1.5 kg during an excise operation under Operation Trishul. Three drug cases were registered this month; a separate 20 gram MDMA seizure in Veldurthi was also reported.
