13 Arrested as DRI Nabs 709 kg Marijuana and 5 kg Charas Across India

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) announced that 13 individuals were arrested as part of a fifteen‑day anti‑narcotics drive that resulted in the seizure of 709.6 kilograms of marijuana, 24.5 kilograms of high‑quality hydroponic cannabis and 5 kilograms of charas, totalling roughly 740 kilograms. Key operations included stopping two Visakhapatnam‑origin trucks near Raipur, where 61 hidden packets (375.95 kg) were discovered in ten burlap bales and four people were detained. On September 5‑6, a tip led to the seizure of a truck on the Aurangabad‑Patna highway; after an officer was wounded and the driver fled, officers recovered 90 packets containing 140.5 kilograms of marijuana. An earlier August 26 interception near Raipur uncovered about 124 kilograms of marijuana and resulted in one arrest. Additional seizures comprised 5 kilograms of charas found on a Gorakhpur railway carriage and 24.6 kilograms of high‑potency cannabis seized from three international travelers at Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports. Officials said the crackdown targets both domestic and cross‑border trafficking networks.