Most wanted ganja smuggler held

Visakhapatnam: The rural police arrested most wanted ganja smuggler Nekkanti Srinivas alias Baba Choudhary of East Godavari at Tallapalem Junction near here on Saturday. The police also recovered three fire arms from him. He has been evading arrest since several years.

Highlights:

• Three fire arms recovered
• Srinivas procured the arms from Manish Pandey and Ramesh Yadav, both natives of Uttar Pradesh, to eliminate his rival gang to dominate the ganja business
• Smuggling in the Maoist dominated areas in the AOB is on the rise as the smugglers have been procuring sophisticated small arms from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha

Acting on a tip off, the Kasimkota and Anakapalle rural police conducted a vehicle check at Tallapalem Junction and nabbed Nekkanti Srinivas and his associates S Mahesh, V Dorababu and K Yesu Raju, all natives of different areas in Vizag Agency when the four-member gang was transporting 500 kgs dry ganja in one jeep and one car.

DSP of Anakapalli A Purushotham said that they have also recovered the fire-arms, including one 9 mm pistol and two 6 mm pistols and nine 9 mm rounds, 15 mobile phones, debit cards, Rs17,500 cash and some documents, from the gang. The DSP said that Nekkanti Srinivas was accused of master minding many ganja smuggling cases and he has been evading arrest since few years.

The DSP said Srinivas procured the arms from Manish Pandey and Ramesh Yadav, both natives of Uttar Pradesh, to eliminate his rival gang to dominate in the ganja business.

The police officer said that the smuggling in the Maoist dominated areas in the Agency and Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) has been getting further serious as the smugglers have been procuring sophisticated small arms from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.

The police registered cases under various Sections of NDPS Act and also Arms Act against Nekkanti Srinivas and trying to establish his links with few other ganja smugglers in the region, the DSP added.