: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested an alleged interstate drug trafficker with 433.930 kg of ganja, estimated to be worth ₹ 1.25 crore in the international market, near Bharatkund toll plaza on the Sultanpur-Ayodhya highway on Tuesday.
An unidentified man allegedly arrived around 1am, loaded the ganja into the truck after speaking to the owner over the phone, and handed Irshad a mobile phone and SIM card. The accused, identified as Mohammad Irshad (35), a resident of Lohinga Kalan village in Haryana’s Mewat, was travelling in a 14-wheeler truck when the STF intercepted him around 11.50am under the jurisdiction of Purakalandar police station in Ayodhya. A case under Sections 8, 20, 29 and 60 of the NDPS Act has been registered at Purakalandar police station (case number 740/2026).
He was instructed to transport the consignment to Bahraich, where another person was supposed to contact him and coordinate the delivery, the STF said, quoting his interrogation.
