New Delhi:

Eight control room (CR) mobile vans and an hour-long dramatic chase across the city is what it took Nashik Police to nab drug traffickers and 28 kilograms of ganja. On Tuesday morning, around 2 am, when a red MH 02 registered car tried to breach the Adgaon stop and search checkpoint, Nashik Police sent out an alert and started the chase.

On suspicion of illegal weapons, narcotics, explosives or similar contraband, the control room was alerted within seconds. 8 CR mobiles of Nashik City Police swung into action. The suspect steered clear of the main roads to avoid getting caught. But they couldn’t evade the cops.

The chase continued across Nashik City from Adgaon, Dwarka U-turn, Amardham U-turn, KK Wagh College, to Chakradhar Swami Mandir. Upon search, 28 kg of ganja were found in the car trunk.

“With strategy, our teams successfully managed to catch hold of the driver, without causing any harm to others,” said Nashik City Police.

MH 02 means the car is registered in Mumbai. It was travelling to Navi Mumbai from Dhule.

The Nashik City Police Commissioner felicitated the team involved in the chase.

“Special praise goes to Bhaurao Gangurde and Balkrushna Pawar, among the alert personnel who immediately started the chase,” it said.

Watch the car chase here:

High-Speed Chase in Nashik
7th Jan 2025
Between 2 AM & 3 AM | 1 Hour (Approx)
Our CR Mobiles on Chase: 8

A red MH 02 registered car in transit from Dhule to Navi Mumbai tried to breach our daily Adgaon Stop & Search Checkpoint.

बेकायदेशीर शस्त्रे, अंमली पदार्थ,… pic.twitter.com/kHJBfvk8Df

— नाशिक शहर पोलीस – Nashik City Police (@nashikpolice) January 7, 2025

Netizens praised Nashik Police’s efforts. An X (formerly Twitter) user wrote, “Kudos to our own Fast and Furious team! Outstanding mindfulness and swift action by the duty officers to intercept the vehicle carrying narcotics. Timely intervention like this keeps our communities safe-well done! Jai Maharashtra!!”

“I highly appreciate the efforts taken by Nashik police team. Keep up the good work,” wrote another.

Idukki, Kerala:

 Excise officers in this district in Kerala were in for a rude shock when a group of school students entered their office accidentally and requested for a matchbox to light a beedi rolled with ganja.

The incident occurred in Adimali in the high range district on Monday, where students of an aided school in Thrissur arrived as part of their school excursion with teachers.

They entered the local excise office to get the matchbox mistaking it to be a workshop.

Immediatley, excise sleuths caught the higher secondary students red-handed and seized banned substances like ganja, hashish oil, and articles to fill the contrabands from them.

A case was also registered against two minor students who were found carrying the banned substances.

After having food at a hotel, a group of students stepped out to smoke ganja beedi and wanted a matchbox to light it.

A senior excise officer said they saw the rear of the excise office here and mistook it for a workshop and asked a matchbox.

“When they saw the officers suddenly, they sensed danger and ran out. But, all of them were caught. When we carried out a check, banned substances were recovered,” he told PTI.

A case was registered under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, against two students from whom the substances were seized.

All students were given counselling.

“The rest of the students were sent back with their teachers. But, in the case of those two students, parents were summoned and sent them along with them only,” he said.

According to officials, drug abuse was rampant during school and college excursions in the state.

“In this particular case, students were said to have pooled money to buy the substance from some drug peddlers,” he said.

The department decided to go ahead with legal proceedings against the students, he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dhanbad:

Rats were blamed for destroying 10 kg of bhang and nine kg of ganja, confiscated and stored in a police station in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district.

The police informed the matter to a court in the district, an advocate associated with the case concerned said on Sunday.

The police submitted a report to Principal District and Sessions Judge Ram Sharma on Saturday after the court directed the officer in-charge of Rajganj police station to produce the bhang and ganja seized six years ago.

The officer in his report said that rats had completely destroyed the narcotics substances stored in the malkhana (store) of the police station.

A report has also been registered in this regard at the police station, the officer said.

On December 14, 2018, Rajganj police arrested one Shambhu Prasad Agrawal and his son with 10 kg of bhang and nine kg of ganja. An FIR had also been lodged against them in the police station.

During the trial, the court had ordered the Investigating Officer in the case, Jayprakash Prasad, to produce the confiscated bhang and ganja in court on April 6.

“Prasad appeared in the court on Saturday with an application of the Rajganj police station officer in-charge saying that rats destroyed all confiscated material,” defence lawyer in the case, Abhay Bhatt, told PTI.

Bhatt said it appeared that his client was framed in false cases, as the police could not be able to exhibit the confiscated materials. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)