New Delhi: The Delhi Police crime branch has successfully dismantled a major interstate drug syndicate that trafficked more than 5,000 kg of ganja from Odisha in the past year, disguising shipments in cashew nut boxes and leveraging a toy-packing factory as a front. Authorities arrested three individuals and seized over 165 kg of the contraband.

Acting on a tip-off received on December 24 about an incoming cannabis shipment to Mangolpuri, police set up a trap and intercepted two scooters around 8:40 pm as they transferred three cartons. The riders, identified as Ajeet (41) from Jawala Puri and Sonu (30) from Khichdipur, were nabbed, with the cartons yielding 47.3 kg of ganja. A case under the NDPS Act was promptly registered, and interrogation revealed Ajeet’s supplier, Pappu from Odisha, who had sent seven prior consignments.

Further probes led to the recovery of 118.4 kg of ganja from a courier firm’s Delhi office, after which Pappu was tracked and arrested in Puri, Odisha. DCP (Crime) Pankaj Kumar noted that Pappu hid the ganja within cashew nut packaging and dispatched it via couriers upon receiving advance payments. Ajeet, avoiding direct involvement, delegated collections to his laborer Sonu—paying Rs 10,000 per trip—before storing and distributing the drugs through his Nihal Vihar toy factory.

This operation underscores Delhi Police’s intensified crackdown on drug networks, building on similar busts like the October 2025 arrest of an Odisha supplier and an August 2025 seizure of 100 kg cannabis en route from Odisha to Delhi via Noida. Such syndicates often exploit Odisha’s coastal regions, known for ganja cultivation, to fuel demand in northern markets, with ganja valued at Rs 3-5 crore per ton in Delhi.