GUNTUR: Cracking a whip on the ganja menace in the districts, the Guntur and Bapatla police have arrested as many as 266 ganja peddlers in the last six months.With various measures being taken by the police to prevent illegal peddling and consumption of ganja, as many as 146 people were arrested and 35 cases have been booked till now (from January 2023) in Bapatla district.
Similar reports come from Guntur also where as many as 120 people were arrested in 49 cases and 115 kg of the contraband was seized in last six months. Apart from this, suspect sheets have been opened against 156 people and PD Act has been invoked against four people. In a recent case, the Guntur and Bapatla district police arrested as many as 28 persons and seized 66 kg of ganja worth Rs 9 lakh on Saturday, in two separate incidents.
The Bapatla district police reportedly busted a ganja racket of 26 members, including local peddlers but also suppliers, middlemen, and consumers. The accused belong to Odisha, Alluri Sitaramaraju, Annamayya, Bapatla, and Prakasam districts and were arrested in Vetapalem.According to Bapatla SP Vakul Jindal, the accused used to purchase ganja from mediators and supplied the contraband to the local peddlers with the help of college students.