Drug smuggler with Rs 20,000 bounty arrested from Mathura

The police have arrested a drug smuggler who was carrying Rs 20,000 reward on his head for his involvement in a case of illegal marijuana possession. The accused, who had been absconding, was found hiding the illicit substance worth Rs 2 crores in his house.

According to the police, on August 5, the DLF Phase 4 crime unit raided a locked house in Nanu Khurd village. With the consent of the house owner, Ram Singh from Daulatabad Kuni village, the lock was broken and over 762 kg of marijuana, packed in polythene bundles, was seized. An FIR was registered under the NDPS Act at the Pataudi police station.

During the investigation, a joint team from the crime units of Manesar and Sikenderpur tracked down the accused in Mathura on Wednesday. The suspect, identified as Deshraj, is a resident of Daulatabad Kuni village and had been evading arrest.

Deshraj said he had brought the marijuana from Orissa in a truck and stored it in his locked house. To escape capture, he had been hiding at different locations. After his arrest, he was taken into eight days of police remand and is being questioned.