HYDERABAD: In the last two years, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Hyderabad Zonal Unit has seized 21,000 kgs of ganja, worth more than Rs 31 crores. All of it was seized while it was being smuggled from Vizag agency area and the bordering villages in Odisha to different parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.
According to officials, Vijayawada-Hyderabad stretch is a major connecting route for ganja smuggled from Vizag agency area and bordering Odisha villages. Vehicles change routes after reaching Vijayawada. While train travel is also used for smuggling ganja, it is a less used option, as very little quantities can be smuggled in trains and the continuous police surveillance in trains and at railway stations makes is difficult, while relatively huge quantities can be smuggled by road, the officials informed.
Though smuggling ganja in modified transport vehicles is not a new phenomenon, there is a rise in smugglers adapting this modus operandi in the recent past. In one of the seizures in Andhra Pradesh in 2018, the smuggler created a false cavity in the roof of a DCM vehicle. There were also incidents of ganja concealed under loads of fish and pumpkins. However, such vehicles were being thoroughly checked, smugglers started using empty vehicles for smuggling. Any empty goods vehicle can be modified with an additional cavity on the cargo hold area or in the roof, by using around 30 screws and a metal sheet and all it needs is Rs 15,000 and two days of workmanship to create the cavity.