15 ganja smugglers arrested in Koraput

KORAPUT

: In four separate raids, district police arrested 15

ganja

smugglers, including 12 from outside the state, and seized at least 1,050 kilograms of the narcotic substance from them on Saturday.

Police said the arrested ganja smugglers included six persons from Andhra Pradesh, two from Maharashtra, two from Haryana and one each from West Bengal and

Madhya Pradesh

. The rest hail from Kalahandi district. Police said the contraband was procured from Malkangiri district and the Machkund area of Koraput and smuggled in at least five four-wheelers. “We were tipped off about the consignment. Accordingly, four separate teams under Machkund, Nandapur, Jeypore Town and Jeypore Sadar police limits intercepted the vehicles,” said SDPO (Jeypore), Sagarika Nath.

The officer said several interstate rackets involved in the ganja trade were active in the district and efforts were on to nab the dealers. “The original dealers never come into the picture. They hire agents to transport the contraband from the area to other states. Hence, a targeted approach is needed to nab both the local suppliers and the original dealers stationed outside Odisha,” she said.

Sources said the high profit margin involved in the ganja trade attracted people to the business in spite of regular police crackdowns. The wild grass is procured at between Rs 300 and Rs 400 per kilogram from growers in the district. Its price soars to Rs 10,000 per kilogram once it reaches states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,

Chhattisgarh

and Haryana. “An integrated state and interstate-level approach has been designed to reach to the root of the ganja trade,” said Sagarika. On June 4, Koraput Police had arrested at least seven people from Uttar Pradesh for smuggling ganja.