The Kumaon unit of the Uttarakhand Special Task Force, with the Udham Singh Nagar police and Pulbhatta police station staff, arrested a truck driver in the Pulbhatta police station area of Rudrapur on the intervening night of 10 and 11 April 2025.[1] He was identified as Raju Ali, a resident of Bilwa village in Lakhimpur Kheri district of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.[2]

Officers stopped the canter and found 4.34 quintals of ganja, about 434 kilograms, hidden in compartments built into the vehicle; police seized the truck, registration UK06CB 4534.[1] Senior Superintendent of Police Navneet Singh Bhullar said it was the largest cannabis seizure in Uttarakhand to date.[1] The Bhaskar English account put the value of the ganja at about Rs 2 crore, while Hindustan Times, citing police, gave an illegal-market value of about Rs 1.08 crore and Pioneer Edge said more than Rs 1 crore.[3]

Police said the consignment was brought from Jharkhand on the instructions of a man named Suresh Gupta and was meant for sale in Rudrapur, Gadarpur and Bazpur in Udham Singh Nagar district.[1] Bhullar said the accused works as a driver, hauling goods for Uttarakhand traders to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha, and sometimes carries drugs back on his return trips.[3] Police said they were making efforts to arrest Gupta and had identified several other drug peddlers from the interrogation, against whom action would be taken.[1]

The STF said head constable Govind Singh played a key role in the operation.[2] The Hindi-language police account gave the driver’s age as 35.[4] Police listed Suresh Gupta, who arranged the shipment, as wanted with no known address.[4]