Packers and movers transport 108 kg ganja from Odisha to Nagpur in bank manager’s household goods

An investigation into the seizure of 108 kg marijuana (ganja) worth Rs 27 lakh last week has found out that a packers-and-movers transporter, Avinash Dhoke, had brought the narcotics consignment concealed in household goods of an innocent bank manager, who had been transferred from Odisha to Nagpur, reported ToI.

The consignment was intercepted by Kalamna police after a dramatic chase on June 3. It has affected the bank manager's shifting plan as his household goods have been impounded as evidence. However, the police have promised to legally sort out the issue.

A Kalamna police team, led by senior inspector Praveen Kale under Zonal DCP Niketan Kadam, travelled about 700 km from Nagpur to a remote Odisha village to nab the key supplier, Bulbul Pradhan, alias ‘WhatsApp Bhai'. The police waited in a trap set for him for more than 24 hours. Pradhan belongs to a family of drug mafia. His elder brother is part of an interstate racket with a nationwide network.


The mission to bust the drug cartel was done by Nagpur CP Ravinder Singal's crackdown on narcotics ‘Operation Thunder', which has unearthed a new nationwide modus operandi of using movers and packers to transport narcotics across India.

ToI sources said Dhoke, 34, was supposed to deliver the bank manager's belongings to the official's new address in Nagpur. However, Dhoke's driver took a detour of about 250 km to pick up the consignment from Pradhan, who was waiting at a location on the Sambalpur highway. The driver had been promised Rs 1,000 per kg ganja or Rs1 lakh as his share in profits.

Dhoke was supposed to deliver to consignment to Palash Wankhede. He managed to keep the tightly packed, dried marijuana herbs in a few sacks under the bank manager's household belongings, furniture, beds, and electronic gadgets. Wankhede is now behind bars along with Dhoke.

Dhoke managed to dodge numerous checkpoints, nakabandis, toll nakas, RTO check posts, and highway police by furnishing the receipt of the payment made by the bank manager for shifting his belongings from the Odisha-West Bengal border to an interior village of Odisha, and then to Nagpur in Maharashtra via Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

Sources from Kalamna police told ToI that Dhoke was working for Wankhede for quite some time but has refused to reveal further details during interrogation.

(With ToI inputs)