The rural police have arrested one of the most-wanted cannabis smuggler in the city on Saturday. Kingpin Nekkanti Srinivas alias Baba Choudhary of East Godavari was arrested and three firearms were recovered from him. The arrested has been evading arrest since several years.
Based on a tip off, the police managed to arrest Srinivas and his associates S Mahesh, V Dorababu and K Yesu Raju, all natives of Vizag agency areas. The accused were arrested when they were transporting 500 KG dry ganja in a jeep and a car.
Baba Choudhary is believed to be one of the major kingpins of cannabis smuggling in the agency areas of Visakhapatnam. The seizure includes a motorcycle, one 9 mm and two 6 mm pistols, nine 9 mm rounds, 15 mobile phones, several debit cards, Rs 17,500 in cash and documents.
Srinivas has 10 cases pending against him and he had procured the arms from Manish Pandey and Ramesh Yadav. He had procured them to eliminate his rivals and dominate the ganja business. The smuggling in maoist infested areas in agency Visakhapatnam and Andhra-Odisha border was increasing due to the procurement of sophisticated weaponry from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.
Cases have now been registered against the arrested under various sections of the NDPS Act and Arms Act. Links are now being established with few other ganja smugglers in Visakhapatnam.
