State police earns DGP praise for record ganja seizures, but illegal trade continues to thrive

Bhubaneswar: The state has traditionally been a hotbed of ganja cultivation and trafficking, besides seeing record seizures of the narcotics every year. But state police have for decades failed to trace the promoters of the illegal trade.
Police have so far managed to arrest only the peddlers and the carriers of ganja consignments. “We are on the job of identifying the brains and organized gangs behind the ganja trafficking. We are also probing the finances of the trade. It is in the early stages,” DGP Abhay said on the sidelines of an event to share achievements of his personnel in busting cannabis rackets in the state.
Abhay did not disclose anything about the persons who have been extending patronage to the illegally flourishing ganja trade and trafficking in the state for the past several years. The DGP, however, heaped praise on state police, including the special task force (STF) of the Crime Branch, for having made significant drug hauls this year.
In the first nine months this year alone, state police have seized 1,054 quintal of ganja, which is a record in the past 10 years, Abhay said. A total of 618 quintal and 523 quintal ganja were seized in 2019 and 2018, respectively. Police said only 73 quintal ganja was seized in 2010.
The average seizure of ganja in the past 10 years was around 312 quintal. The average seizure of the drug was nearly 414 quintal in the past five years. The big hauls this year were made in Koraput (413.14 quintal), Malkangiri (240.66 quintal) and Gajapati (126.58 quintal) districts. Special appreciation letters have been given to the SPs of these districts, Abhay said.
Police sources said joint squads of police, excise and forest departments destroyed ganja plants worth nearly Rs 1.4 crore on 11,627 acres of land (private and forest) in different districts in 2018-19. Boudh, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Koraput, Deogarh, Angul, Sambalpur and Nayagarh witnessed rampant cultivation.
Police said they had been receiving satellite imagery shared by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the Narcotics Control Bureau to trace ganja plants for destruction. Besides, the Odisha Space Applications Centre (ORSAC) too helps police in identifying the areas where ganja is cultivated.
Abhay said he attended a virtual meeting with the DGPs of neighbouring West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on Monday for better coordination and sharing of intelligence inputs on interstate drug smugglers.
“Ganja cultivators and traffickers could not have thrived without the support of some corrupt government officers. The enforcement squads should probe the suspected complicity of government officials, police, excise, local representatives, village or panchayat committees in the trade. Nexus of some government employees and police with the mafia was established following their arrests in the recent past,” P K Pattnaik, a retired police officer, said.