HYDERABAD: Even as the law enforcement agencies (LEA) are cracking down on ganja smugglers, they are adapting a variety of new methods to press ahead, leaving the agencies dumbfounded.
In the past, there have been incidents of ganja being concealed under vegetables, but now, small packs of contraband was found hidden under paddy husk. This, no doubt, proves a challenge to the police.
Apart from the Police Department, the DRI and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) monitor the vehicle movement on the national and State highways and deploy their personnel to curb ganja smuggling.In Telangana, ganja is usually smuggled in from the agency areas of Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh and from the areas on Andhra-Odisha border.
Earlier, the modus operandi of the smugglers who operate here was concealing small packets of ganja in vehicles — under the seats, the space inside the doors and other parts of the vehicle. As the enforcement agencies began checking the vehicles thoroughly, the offenders began concealing the contraband in compartments especially created for smuggling ganja.
Several cases of ganja being concealed in the compartments made on the roof of the vehicles, their sides or even under the body were detected by the LEAs. They even started hiding ganja under vegetable or fruit load and under coal in trucks.
In a first of its kind, ganja concealed under paddy husk in a truck was detected by the DRI on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Tuesday. Speaking to Express, the officials said they were improving their information network, but the smugglers keep adapting new ways to smuggle ganja.
"It’s a huge challenge for the enforcement agencies to detect ganja and the recent cases show that there is a need to have better coordination among different agencies within the State as well as with those in other States to catch the offenders," they said.
The officials added, "While we frequently register cases, much of the consignment that leave the agency areas reach their respective destination safely, taking advantage of the coordination gap between the agencies."
DRI also on high alert
Apart from police, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) monitor the vehicle movement on the national and State highways and deploy their personnel to curb ganja smuggling. In Telangana, ganja is usually smuggled in from agency areas of Vizag district in AP and from the areas on Andhra-Odisha border