Former Bengal football captain held for smuggling ganja

Kolkata: Amzad Ali Khan, a footballer who has played for esteemed clubs like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting Club, was arrested by the Special Task Force of Kolkata Police on the charges of smuggling ganja.

It was alleged that he was smuggling around 500 kg ganja in a truck. Three of his associates were also arrested in this connection so far. The others have been identified as Harpreet Singh, Balbinder Singh and Amit Roy.

Amzad is a former footballer of Bengal who represented the state from 2002 to 2008. He had also captained the Bengal football team. A section of footballers expressed their shock after the matter came to light. They could not understand why a former footballer of his stature was involved in a smuggling racket.

Police are interrogating him and the other accused. They are trying to know the modus operandi of the racket and also trying to know the names of others who might have been involved.

According to sources, the police came to know that a truck would be carrying a huge amount of ganja through the Garden Reach area, but never imagined that a former footballer might be there inside the vehicle. Police came to know that the truck was going to Hooghly's Jangipara.

In another incident, police seized heroin worth nearly Rs one crore from Lalgola in Murshidabad. One person has been arrested in this connection so far. He has been identified as Imdadul Seikh. He was intercepted at Panditpur market on Umarpur-Lalgola Link Road with the drug, while he was waiting to hand over the consignment to his associate.