Army man among four arrested for smuggling drugs: Police

Kota (Raj), Aug 27 (PTI) Police in Jhalawar arrested four people, including an army man, for smuggling cannabis and seized 103 kg of the contraband from a truck, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The police also booked a woman tour-travel operator for allegedly providing a vehicle with a private number to the army man to escort the truck.

"A police team confiscated over 103 kg of Ganja hidden in a truck transporting iron rods during checking of vehicles at Dudhaliya check post under Dug police station on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday," Jhalawar Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar told reporters.

The police arrested four persons, identified as Peerulal Malviya (34), an army man and resident of Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, Vinod Kumar (28), Anwar alias Ashu (29) and Zahir Khan (35), all residents of Jhalawar district, he said "The army man, who is posted in Kashmir, was presently on leave and was assigned by the gang to escort the truck and facilitate with his army ID, the safe passage of the drug-loaded vehicle at police check posts," he said.

The truck and the luxury car that the army man used to escort it were seized and the four accused were booked under sections of the NDPS Act, the SP said.

The woman tour operator, identified as Kavita Nagar of Bhawanimandi Mandi area of the district, was also booked in the matter after her role emerged in providing the luxury car to the army man, DSP Jaiparkash Atal said.

Anwar and Zahir Khan loaded the drugs in the truck along with iron rods (Sariya) in Cuttack in Odisha after unloading Kota-stone at Nagpur. While returning, they called the army man along with Vinod to escort the truck from Indore to Bhawanimandi in the district, he said.

"The four accused executed the illegal transportation of the drug with planning with the help of another person from Nagpur who facilitated Anwar and Zahir's purchase of Ganja in Cuttack," he said, adding further investigation is underway. PTI CORR RT RT