The Chanchalguda prison officials were shocked to find some ganja packets on the jail premises a few days ago. Having done everything to make the high-security prison impenetrable from every aspect, they found themselves at the wits end when packets of the narcotic substance were found strewn in an open area inside the jail.
To confirm their worst fears, they took up a search of each and every cell and subjected every prisoner to frisking. And their suspicion turned out to be true when they found 150 gram of cannabis (ganja) in the possession of a prisoner. A resident of Old City in Hyderabad, the convict had hidden the ganja powder inside the hollow of a detergent cake. On interrogation, he reportedly revealed that he had found the ganja on the prison premises.
The latest narcotic haul has jolted the prison authorities to further tighten surveillance at the jail compound wall both from within and outside the jail to seal the once-notorious ‘sky route’ to smuggle dope and mobiles phones into the prison which seems to have been reopened lately.
About 10 security personnel have been posted near the compound wall to keep a vigil and prevent people from throwing ganja packets and mobile phones into the jail premises over the wall, superintendent of the prison B Saidaiah told Express. Drug addicts in the prison stuff the ganja in beedis and cigarettes bought from the prison’s canteen and smoke them. Explaining the modus operandi of smuggling narcotics into the jail through the sky route, Saidaiah said during the ‘mulaqat’ (visiting hours) the visitor and the jail inmate draw up a plan. Accordingly, sometime later, the visitor or some other person rides in on a bike, throws the stuff over the prison compound wall at a pre-determined place and speeds away. The inmate then collects the stuff. “This method is relatively easy to adopt because of the long compound wall of the jail which is right on the main road,” the superintendent said. The jail corners seem to be the preferred spots for the operation as the prison officials found ganja packets mostly in these areas in the last few days. The ganja packets are being tied to stones and the ‘missiles’ are then hurled into the jail, Saidaiah said. The packets, however, are being burnt on the spot, he added.
The prison officials have a plan for an alternative road for general vehicular traffic avoiding the jail road for the sake of improved safety and also to contain the menace of drug smuggling but the proposal has been pending since 1990, he lamented.