Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: Shocking as it may sound, Balimela Police today arrested four working journalists for their involvement in a ganja smuggling racket. Cops have also seized ganja reportedly weighing around 10 quintals.

The four journalists have been identified as Jitendra Rout, Narayan Das, Vikash Padhi and Satya Padhi and all of them are based out of Malkangiri.

According to sources, the four journalists had taken Rs 60,000 to arrange safe passage of a ganja consignment across Odisha border. The ganja consignment was enroute to Punjab from Andhra Pradesh, informed sources.

Acting on a tip off from reliable sources, police today patrolled on important roads through the town and during a vehicle inspection drive it unearthed 10 quintal ganja from a truck, added sources. Based on the information extracted from the driver of the vehicle about the involvement of journalists, police launched a manhunt to trace the accused.

"The total estimated amount of the seized item is yet to be ascertained and we have launched an investigation to unearth the racket," said a police official.

scrollToTop