Man arrested in Surat for hiding charas worth Rs 6.56 cr he found on beach instead of alerting police

A fisherman was arrested in Surat in Gujarat for allegedly hiding 13.127 kilograms of charas worth Rs 6.56 crore that he found on a beach instead of informing authorities, a police official said on Monday.

Based on a tip off about a motorcycle-borne man travelling on the road connecting Rajgari and Damka villages near Hazira with charas, a Surat Crime Branch team held Jitendra Patel (41) on Sunday, he said.

A total of 13 packets containing 13.127 kilograms of high quality Afghan charas worth Rs 6.56 crore were found in the possession of Patel, a resident of Rajgari, he said.

A probe revealed fisherman Patel found 13 packets on a beach near Rajgari village two months ago and realised it is charas after opening one of them, the official said.

Realising he could make money selling it, Patel allegedly dug a pit near the shore and hid the packets instead of informing police, the official added.

He brought these packets home three days ago and was planning to sell them, a release from the police said.

Notably, the description of these charas packets match those found by the Border Security Force off Jakhau coast in the recent past. it said.

Recently three men were arrested for trying to sell charas worth Rs 4.15 crore found in a similar manner near Hazira village on the outskirts of Surat.

In the past, investigations by the BSF and other authorities had established that such packets, found at regular intervals off the Gujarat coast, had washed ashore after they were dumped in the sea by smugglers to avoid getting caught.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)