Two drug peddlers arrested, 7 kg marijuana seized

The city police claimed to have unearthed a drug peddling racket operational in Lucknow and its adjoining districts, after arresting two persons here on Tuesday. Police also seized around 7 kilograms of marijuana brought from Nepal to be sold in the state capital.

The arrested persons were identified as Vinod Kumar Shukla and his aide, Santosh Lodhi. The police said that Vinod and his elder brother Pramod Shukla were the racket leaders. Pramod was arrested by the UP Special Task Force (STF) along with 3 kilograms of marijuana around a month ago.

Inspector of Naka police station, Prashuram Singh said Vinod confessed during interrogation that he used to bring marijuana from Nepal to Lucknow crossing the porous India-Nepal border.

He first used to bring marijuana to his home town Barabanki and thereafter he used to bring it to Lucknow through different routes, said the inspector.

A source said that Shukla stayed in a rented house in Gulzar Nagar locality of Bazarkhala but carried out his nefarious activities from another rented room in Bangla Bazar.

He said Shukla used to make small pouches of marijuana and sell it to his customers across the city though a wide spread network of drug peddlers.

The inspector added that the drug peddlers mainly targeted the youth, who spend more money in purchasing marijuana. The police are further exploring the drug peddling network and more arrests are likely in few days.

POLICE SAID THE DRUG PEDDLERS MAINLY TARGETED THE YOUTH AS THEY SPENT MORE MONEY ON MARIJUANA