BHUBANESWAR: A father-son duo’s maiden attempt to store huge quantities of marijuana to sell to tourists, mostly foreigners, during the Puri Rath Yatra next month backfired with police arresting them on Wednesday and seizing 6 quintals of the contraband worth Rs 60 lakh. This is highest ganja haul in Puri district, the police said.
Police said accused Bijay Kumar Pani (50) and Satrujit Pani (22) found an acute shortage of brown sugar in Puri in view of the continuous enforcement drives by the police. They wanted to take advantage of the void created by the short supply of heroin and procured large quantities of ganja from Koraput with an intention to sell them during the Rath Yatra, starting June 20, which will bring lakhs of visitors. The accused had expected brisk business as ganja is much cheaper than brown sugar.
