A week ago, when an Enforcement team from the Telangana Prohibition and Excise department waited in mufti by the roadside in Tolichowki and caught a person for selling ganja, there was more to it. The team found that the ganja supplier had allotted a room in his home in Gachibowli where clients could ‘smoke’. In fact, the Enforcement team caught two consumers during the raid.
N Anji Reddy, Assistant Excise Superintendent of the Enforcement wing (Hyderabad), said this was the first time that they had come across a case where peddlers had allotted a room for consumers to smoke the contraband. Usually, peddlers deliver the contraband to clients at a pre-decided location and move away as soon as possible.
In the Gachibowli case, a college dropout, K Prashanth, was the alleged main supplier, D Saida his alleged associate.
“Initially, Prashanth used to go to Vizag, buy ganja there, and sell it here. After coming in touch with M Krishna in Vizag, he began to transfer money to his contact through a mobile app. A person dressed as a rag picker used to deliver the consignment to him,” said Mr Anji Reddy. Cases were booked against Prashanth and Saida and the two consumers.
A pattern
Over five months ago, when Telangana Prohibition and Excise department officials caught a person with ganja, they learnt that he had procured it from Araku.
Little did they know then that this was slowly becoming a pattern: ganja consumers and peddlers venturing into Araku on their own to buy the contraband in large quantities.
With stringent vigil on peddlers in Dhoolpet, Nanakramguda and other hot spots in the city, consumers and suppliers opted for this route. While one kg of the contraband costs up to ₹20,000 in Dhoolpet, it is ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 per kg in Araku.
Even consumers from the city who used to buy 50-100 grams of the contraband began to buy up to one kg from Araku, said Mr Anji Reddy.
While most consumers remained consumers, some students began to sell it too. Excise officials said they had come across at least half a dozen such cases in the past six months.
Officials said that earlier people did not think twice before going to Dhoolpet and buying ganja. However, after the department launched counselling for those visiting the locality for the contraband, there was a change in people’s attitude.
“From May 2018, at least 1,500 perons were counselled on how their life would be affected if cases were registered against them under the narcotics act. During counselling, parents used to pour out their emotions for their children,” said K Naveen Kumar, Assistant Prohibition and Excise Superintendent, Dhoolpet.
