200 kg ganja, liquor worth Rs 77k seized in raids

Surat: The sting videos shared by Congress councillor Dinesh Kachhadiya exposed the city police’s claims about prohibition and their control over drug mafia. Police were forced to raid the slums around railway line under Varachha and Katargam police station limits.

Police succeeded in recovering ganja and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) bottles, but no one was arrested on Tuesday.

Videos shared by Kachhadiya showed a market of ganja and IMFL operating from under a bridge with the sellers putting all their goods on display without any fear. The sellers of the banned goods are visible in the videos.

Kachhadiya had shared the videos on social media and mobile phone applications and they went viral. Kachhadiya later received a phone call at his office in which the caller threatened to kill him if the videos were not removed from his Facebook page. Kachhadiya lodged a complaint at Varachha police station but the police are yet to identify the caller. The call was made from Andhra Pradesh, police investigation revealed.

A police team headed by R P Barot, deputy commissioner of police, zone I, raided the slums near railway line under Varachha police station’s limit.

The police seized around 200kg ganja but failed to arrest a single person. “No one was arrested with the ganja,” Barot said.

In another raid, R F Sangada, in-charge DCP zone III, raided Utkal Nagar under Katargam police station’s limits and seized liquor worth Rs77,300. Here, too, no one was arrested for possessing the liquor.