Pramesh S Jain.Yogesh K Porwar
NCB Bengaluru Zone bursts another inter-state drug trafficking network on Saturday seized 3400 kg of high grade marijuana from Truck transporting the drug consignment to Hyderabad and three persons caught who are part of the racket .
Based on specific intelligence developed by NCB Bangalore,Joint team Operation was conducted by Bangalore and Hyderabad,seized a truck of Maharashtra registration and arrested three persons near toll booth on Hyderabad ring road, Amit Ghawate,NCB,Zonal Director,said.
The truck carrying the drug consignment from Andhra –Odisha border heading Maharashtra via Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
A thorough examination it was found that 3400 kg of marijuana was concealed into the truck packed systematically in 141 gunny bags.
These gunny bags were concealed under tarpaulin sheets and further covered by varieties of nursery saplings in huge quantities in the truck.
It was difficult to detect the contraband.The arrested include D Shinde,M R Kamble,N Jogdand,all from Latur district,Maharashtra, Mr. Ghawate,said .
According to the officials,the consignment was operated by a kingpin from Maharashtra.He had arranged it for multiple separate syndicates doing drug trafficking in Pune district,Mumbai, Thane and other states.
These syndicate further peddle the contraband in various colleges,parties,individuals etc through their elaborate ground network.
The source of contraband is AOB (Andhra Orissa border) area.Further investigation is in progress.
During the year 2020,a total quantity of 1971 kg of marijuana was seized,resulting in the arrest of eight persons.
This year by the end of August 2021,a total quantity of over 7500 kg marijuana have already been seized by NCB,Bangalore Zone resulting in the arrest of 25 persons.
The 2 enforcement action of NCB and recent substantial seizures of Marijuana clearly indicate that the traffickers have been desperate and taking the risk of carrying maximum quantity of the contraband at a time,Mr.Ghawate said.
Marijuana is mainly distributed amongst youngsters among school and college students, and this is the stepping stone for them into the dark life of addiction,which further makes them addict to more potentially dangerous narcotic drugs like Heroin and synthetic drugs like Methamphetamine,Mephedrone,he added.
Illegal Ganja (Marijuana)Cultivation in India is largely concentrated around the naxal infected Andhra- Odisha border areas.
Ganja from this region find its way to all over the country including Delhi,Mumbai,Rajasthan, Tamilnadu,Kerala,West Bengal and is smuggled across the ocean to Sri Lanka.
Difficult terrain and inaccessibility make this area difficult for the law enforcement agencies to conduct periodic destruction of illicit grown Ganja.The other major Ganja cultivation region in India are the hilly terrains of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.Further,North-eastern states of India are also vulnerable to Ganja cultivation due to their favourable climatic conditions and inaccessible areas.
