Trans-state swoop: EAGLE Force and NCB bust 500kg ganja haul

In a precision-driven, high-speed chase spanning three states, the elite EAGLE Force (RNCC Khammam), in coordination with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Ranchi, intercepted a lorry carrying 500 kilograms of ganja in Jharkhand’s Rourkela district late on 21 October. The consignment, originating from the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB), was bound for Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and was valued in crores, investigators confirmed.

The operation stemmed from intelligence suggesting that traffickers planned to exploit Diwali night to evade surveillance along Telangana’s highways. A special operations team led by Inspector Vijay Ram Kumar and Sub-Inspector Ravi Prasad began surveillance on 19 October after learning that a truck, registration number HR73 B 4939, would be ferrying a heavy narcotic load from Janpati Gram Panchayat, Malkangiri district.

While the vehicle was initially expected to pass through Telangana, its sudden diversion north along the Biju Expressway raised suspicion. The RNCC team switched pursuit routes, maintaining real-time tracking and alerting multiple police units across Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Despite several failed interception attempts, the surveillance trail helped the NCB Ranchi Division, which finally cornered the truck on the Simdega–Rourkela Road.

The driver, Naseem Kamruddin (30) of Haryana, was arrested on the spot. The intended recipients, identified as Mushthaq Khan and Arif, both from Haryana and currently based in Varanasi, remain at large. Police suspect the trio were conduits in a larger interstate ring operating between Odisha, Telangana, and northern India, using alternate freight routes to bypass drug enforcement networks.

Officials said traffickers have increasingly been rerouting consignments away from Telangana due to intensified narcotics crackdowns by the EAGLE Force and TS–NAB units. “This coordinated bust demonstrates how surveillance and inter-agency intelligence can break new trafficking corridors,” said a senior officer familiar with the operation.