Ahmedabad/Surat, Oct 7 — Two men have been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and fined Rs one lakh each by a Surat court for trafficking 523.450 kg of ganja from Odisha to Gujarat, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Wednesday.
The Additional District and Sessions Court in Surat convicted Shaikh Akil Shaikh, a resident of Malegaon in Maharashtra, and Ayaz Shaikh, a resident of Surat, in the case through its judgment dated October 3.
The two were convicted under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
According to the NCB, the case dates back to June 9, 2022, when its Ahmedabad Zonal Unit acted on specific intelligence and mounted a surveillance operation at Lindiyad village, opposite Mithila Industries in the Mangrol area of Surat.
The NCB team intercepted the accused while they were allegedly transferring concealed cargo from a Tata truck into a Mahindra Bolero pickup vehicle.
During the search, officers recovered 523.450 kg of ganja packed in 17 plastic sacks containing 101 packets. The narcotic substance had allegedly been concealed beneath a consignment of pineapples to evade detection.
"The investigation found that the ganja was being transported from Odisha to Gujarat for illicit sale, and that the accused were part of an interstate trafficking conspiracy," the agency said.
After completing its investigation, the NCB filed a complaint before the Additional District and Sessions Court under various provisions of the NDPS Act.
Following the trial, the court convicted both accused and awarded each of them 10 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs one lakh.
The NCB said the conviction followed its intelligence-led operation, investigation and prosecution in the case.
It also appealed to the public to share information related to the sale, transportation or trade of narcotics through MANAS, the National Narcotics Helpline, on the toll-free number 1933.
The agency said the identity of informers would be kept confidential.