Police arrest couple for smuggling Rs18 crore worth hydroponic ganja
Bengaluru (PTI): Bengaluru police on Thursday said they have arrested a couple that allegedly worked as mules for an international drug syndicate, for smuggling over 18 kg of hydroponic ganja worth Rs 18.60 crore into the city.
They had allegedly brought the drugs from Thailand into the city, by evading authorities including those from the Customs, at the airport, by concealing the ganja in food packets in a bag, official sources said.
The couple, a 34-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, on November 30, were arrested by the Mahalakshmi Layout police, based on a tip off they received about large quantities of narcotic substance being carried, supposedly to deliver them to the local contact.
According to police, the couple, which travelled from Bangkok reportedly on a tourist visa, had no criminal records, which may be one of the reasons for choosing them as mules.
The police have registered a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and two mobiles have been seized from the accused.
The court has remanded the couple to police custody for 10 days.
Police are also likely to look into how the couple managed to evade airport and customs authorities.
Further investigation is underway, and information is being gathered about other suspects possibly involved in the case, officials said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
