HYDERABAD: With police keeping a strict vigil on the peddlers, it looks like the ganja consumers themselves are turning to peddling in attempt to exploit the void. According to officials, after a strict vigil on peddlers in Dhoolpet, the ganja consumers are said to be venturing into the by-lanes of this popular ganja hub. The reason is that around 1,200 people were caught and counselled for trying to buy the stuff.
This has left a vacuum in supply of the drugs to those in the city. This is where some consumers seem to have found a business opportunity. Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department officials suspect that some consumers are taking up the illegal trade as they detected three such cases in span of one month.
There is a pattern in the way the accused, all youngsters, in three cases conducted the business. They used to procure it from Araku in Andhra Pradesh and sell it in Hyderabad.
Around six to eight months ago, 100 grams of ganja (green variety) used to be sold at around `500 in Dhoolpet. However, due to the Excise officials’ vigil the supply is affected in Dhoolpet. Now, the same variety is being sold at `500 for 15 to 25 grams.
Assistant Excise Superintendent (Enforcement wing) N Anji Reddy said that the accused bought one kg of Ganja at `3,500 from Araku. Considering an increase in prices here, one kg is sold at `20,000 to `25,000.
It was only on Wednesday that Enforcement wing of the department caught a software engineer P Srikanth and a job aspirant B Sai Charan Goud who were ganja consumers. They started to procure it from Araku and sell it to people in densely populated Ameerpet, SR Nagar and uptown Banjara Hills and Madhapur localities in the city. A week ago, the Enforcement team caught a person in Balkampet, who is a consumer-turned-peddler.