A speeding car, laden with ganja, overturned on the Bhadrachalam-Sarapaka highway near the bridge across the Godavari at Sarapaka village in Burgampadu mandal in the small hours of Sunday.
The occupants of the car, suspected to be members of an inter-State gang of ganja smugglers, fled immediately after the incident, sources said.
The car heading towards Kothagudem from Bhadrachalam side turned turtle on the highway near the bridge after the driver of the car reportedly lost control of the vehicle.
The ganja smugglers survived the accident with minor injuries and escaped from the spot, abandoning the car on the roadside, sources added.
Passers-by informed the local police about the traffic disruption caused by the abandoned car lying in the middle of the road.
A police team soon rushed to the spot and found a huge consignment of ganja packed in sealed covers inside the overturned car. The total weight of the seized ganja is estimated to be around 250 kg.
The incident raised doubts about the effectiveness of the vigil at the border check post as the ganja smugglers managed to cross the bridge between the temple town of Bhadrachalam and Sarapaka in their ganja-laden car without being caught at the checkpoints along the inter-State border with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Police are trying to trace the origin of the illegal consignment and nab the ganja smugglers, who are at large, based on the registration number of the seized car and other clues.
