Patna, Aug. 10: Working in the garb of an employee of a women’s college at Ara in Bhojpur district, he deals in the illegal sale of narcotics.

He is also closely associated with an interstate gang that is involved in the sale of ganja.

Meet Dwrika Nath Singh (40), a Grade IV employee of Mahanth Mahadevanand College under Veer Kuer Singh University, Ara.

Singh was arrested on Saturday for his alleged involvement in the sale of contraband.

Singh, a resident of Nurpur village, is one of the 16 persons caught during a police crackdown on gangsters involved in illegal narcotics trade thriving in Bhojpur and its adjoining districts.

The police seized ganja worth Rs 5 crore in the international market from different places of Bhojpur district. Singh is not the lone government employee involved in the lucrative business.

A school teacher, Shambhu Singh (35), was also arrested and jailed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The police seized ganja worth over Rs 4 crore during a special police operation in Singh’s native village, Ekauna.

Though the duo denied their involvement in the business, the police said they had close links with narcotics dealers.

“The Bhojpur police seized 13 tonnes of ganja, which is the largest seizure of narcotics in the country in the past decade, ” said the director-general of police, Neel Mani.

He said the consignment was brought from Manipur, Assam and Nagaland and sold in the local market.

Police personnel intercepted a truck carrying nine quintals of ganja from Chanda village on Koelwar-Babura road and arrested its driver Firoz Hussain and some labourers.

Several villages like Ekauna, Masadh, Siricia, Babura, Nurpur and Balihar have emerged as the epicentres of clandestine trade flourishing in Bhojpur district.

“Nearly 70 per cent of the population of these villages is engaged in hoarding and subsequent sale of ganja. There is hardly any family in these villages, one or two members of which are not associated with the illegal trade,” said an investigating officer.

Sources said many people, who were earlier associated with the sale of narcotics, are running their businesses in cities like Benaras, Allahabad and Delhi.

“There are some families who have made huge investments in the hotel business to convert black money into white,” said Raman Lal Gupta, a resident of Bhojpur’s Nawada locality.

A Lok Jan Shakti Party leader, allegedly has close links with the narcotics mafia of the region.

Though several cases were slapped against this criminal-turned-politician, he was acquitted in almost all the cases for want of evidence over a period of time.

The superintendent of police of Bhojpur, Anil Kishore Yadav, said: “During the 48-hour operation, we seized 13 quintals of ganja worth Rs 5 crore from different places.”