New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI) A court in Telangana has sentenced eight people to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in a case of organised drug trafficking that was investigated by the NCB, officials said on Tuesday.

The case pertains to February 24, 2021, when the federal anti-narcotics agency intercepted a cache of 681 kg of Ganja (Cannabis), being transported in three vehicles, at the Pedda Amberpet toll plaza on the Nehru Outer Ring Road in the Ranga Reddy district of the state.

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Eight individuals -- Suresh Shyamrao Pawar, Vishal Ramesh Pawar, Balaji Ramdas Ware, Manoj Vilas Dhotre, Dhyaneshwar Lalasaheb Deshmukh, Ramraje Chaturbhuj Gunjale, Akshay Anant Gandhi and Sachin Dagadu Sanap -- were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on drug trafficking charges.

Officials said these people were smuggling the commercial quantity of narcotics from Sileru in Visakhapatnam to Pune and Osmanabad via Hyderabad.

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The Additional District and Sessions Court, on Monday, convicted the eight people to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh each under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, they said.

Officials said the NCB is "committed to dismantling drug syndicates operating across the country by strict enforcement of the NDPS law and its provisions."

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says "Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance in the world."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)