After a brief lull, ganja smuggling cases have started to increase in Visakhapatnam district.
From January 1 to November 26 this year, the district police have busted 208 ganja cases in which 34,549 kg ganja was seized. It may be noted that in November alone, the police cracked 30 ganja cases and seized 12,063 kg ganja, which is almost 35% of the total contraband seized. Huge hauls of ganja were recovered at various places including Araku, Paderu, and K.D. Peta among other places.
The Araku and Paderu police seized about 2,000 kg ganja each some days ago and KD Pea police on Wednesday seized 1,800 kg ganja from a lorry. According to the district police, in the year 2018, police had recovered 16,045 kg ganja in 153 cases and in 2019, 23,172 kg ganja was seized in 199 cases. The police estimate that the total worth of ganja seized in the district in November so far, would be ₹2.40 crore. But if the ganja is transported to other States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana, its worth would increase to nearly ₹12 to ₹15 crore, the police said. In these cases, 54 persons, including 28 inter-State smugglers, were arrested and 27 vehicles were seized. According to a few police officials, end of November to December is the time when the farmers harvest the crop. Most farmers try to dispose of old stock by offering the contraband at low rate. Smugglers try to make best use of the opportunity and buy in huge quantities.
“Since the last couple of years, the Excise Department in association with a few others have conducted raids and damaged lakhs of ganja plantations during October to December. This year, it was not possible due to various reasons. Most of the farmers have planted crop during July this year and are harvesting now,” said a senior officer from the Excise Department.
Tourist season
Some police officials said that during this time of the year, a number of tourists from various parts of the country visit the Agency and the smugglers use the opportunity to smuggle out the weed. “Unless we have concrete information, we cannot intercept some vehicle and check luggages. They may be genuine tourists. Keeping this in view, some smugglers try to escape by using regular tourist cars,” said a officer from the district police.