VIJAYAWADA: Cracking whip on the ganja smugglers and ensuing that the NTR district becomes free from ganja and other narcotics, the district police has set a benchmark in the fight against narcotics by becoming the first district in the State to invoke the stringent Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 (PIT-NDPS).
To make the district free from ganja and other narcotics, police have so far detained 30 notorious offenders under the preventive detention law.
“Unlike normal NDPS cases, PIT-NDPS is a legal weapon that enables the government to confine identified habitual narcotics traffickers to judicial custody for one full year even before trial. This will help the police to halt the cycle of smuggling, distribution and money circulation. This is a shift from reactive policing to targeted disruption,” said NTR District Commissioner of Police (CP) SV Rajashekhar Babu.
As per police officials, these 30 offenders were caught for multiple cases and their conduct and sustained role in clandestine ganja trade, operations across district borders, fiscal flow mapping, and repeated violations despite prior arrests.
“Earlier, these smugglers would immediately return to the trade after coming out on bail. That has been stopped now. We were able to disintegrate and deteriorate the network of ganja smugglers, resulting in a great change in the city,” he explained.
Under the new strategy, police have built a real-time database of drug offenders, mapped supply chains and local peddling networks, and intensified coordination with Excise, Intelligence, and Special Enforcement Bureau teams. Also, night vehicle checks, covert vigil on inter-state routes, and continuous village-level intelligence are being implemented to choke supply lines.
Police have urged colleges and parents to join efforts to curb demand.
“Drug networks survive only when both demand and supply survive. We are trying to suppress the sources of ganja with the help of our counterparts in neighbouring states sharing information. By isolating major suppliers under PIT-NDPS, we are breaking the backbone of the trade,” the CP said.