Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 330 kg of ganja being transported illegally on Sunday. The driver Srinivas was taken into custody.
On receipt of information that the contraband was being smuggled from Visakhapatnam agency area to Vijayawada, the officials intercepted the vehicle near Eluru and seized the material.
“Smugglers packed the ganja in bags that were concealed under cabbages. On the pretext of transporting cabbage, the accused were smuggling the contraband. We conducted the raid in the wee hours of Sunday and took one person into custody along with the vehicle. Efforts are on to know the kingpin, origin and destination of the racket,” an intelligence official told The Hindu .
The arrested person is a native of West Godavari district, the officer added.
Last year, the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the City Police had seized a huge quantity of ganja being transported through rail and road ways. The police conducted a raid on a godown where ganja was stored and busted the smuggling racket.
Smugglers were supplying the contraband to students in Vijayawada, Guntur, Mylavaram, Gudivada, Jaggaiahpet, Nuzvid, Machilipatnam, Eluru and other places through agents, said the police.
“The accused are targeting students from engineering and other professional colleges. Many students were addicted to ganja and other drugs in Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts,” a police official said.
Confirming rampant smuggling of ganja in the State, Director General of Police (DGP) N. Sambasiva Rao said at a recent press conference a separate cell would be set up to keep a vigil on smugglers and curb the practice effectively. The contraband is being illegally transported to Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and other States from AP.
