An interstate ganja smuggling racket operating between Andhra Pradesh and Delhi was uncovered at Secunderabad railway station on Thursday (September 11, 2025), with the arrest of two peddlers and the seizure of nearly 17 kilograms of cannabis valued at over ₹8.47 lakh.
The joint operation was carried out by the Government Railway Police (GRP) Secunderabad and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on the station premises and trains. The arrested were identified as Chandra Prakash, 22, a street vendor from Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, and his friend Zamila Khatoon alias Noori, 19, a resident of North 24 Parganas in West Bengal who had been living in Delhi. Officers seized two backpacks containing 16.955 kg of dry ganja, and mobile phones.
Investigations revealed that Prakash, who was addicted to ganja and alcohol, came into contact about a month ago with a man named Paran Khan through Facebook. Khan offered to sell him ganja at the rate of ₹1,200 per kilogram. Hoping to make four times the profit by reselling it in small packets in Delhi, Prakash agreed to buy 16 kg. He had only ₹10,000, but Khatoon agreed to invest another ₹10,000 in return for an equal share of the profits.
Police said Prakash made a UPI payment to Khan through an unidentified intermediary, after which the pair travelled from Delhi to Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh on September 10 to collect the contraband. They allegedly received the consignment directly from Khan before boarding the Visakha Express to Secunderabad, from where they intended to continue their journey to Delhi.
The next morning, after arriving at Secunderabad railway station, the duo waited in the passenger hall for their connecting train. Around 8.45 a.m., GRP and RPF personnel on duty questioned them, leading to the recovery of the ganja. During interrogation, both confessed to having procured the consignment from Khan, who remains untraceable.
A case was booked and efforts are under way to track down Khan.
Published – September 11, 2025 08:06 pm IST
