Drug trade drags in unwary farmers

According to data from the State Excise Department, 1,060 marijuana/ganja plants grown on farmlands were seized and destroyed in the past year.
A CCB police team during the raid on ‘House of Life’, a four-acre luxury residence of Aditya Alva, at Mariyannanapalya near Hebbal on Tuesday morning | Shriram BN
A CCB police team during the raid on ‘House of Life’, a four-acre luxury residence of Aditya Alva, at Mariyannanapalya near Hebbal on Tuesday morning | Shriram BN

BENGALURU: Caught amidst fluctuating prices for agricultural produce and lured by the prospect of some easy money, some farmers in the state are unwittingly falling prey to drug cartels. In the past one year, at least 100 cases have been registered in the state, including against farmers, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

According to data from the State Excise Department, 1,060 marijuana/ganja plants grown on farmlands were seized and destroyed in the past year. Each plant can yield up to 6-7 kg of ganja. A senior official from the Department of Agriculture, said that with drought and floods, and prices of agricultural produce crashing, some farmers tend to grow ganja as it is lucrative.  

‘Farmers given seeds by drug peddlers’

The farmers are provided the seeds by drug peddlers, an official said. In some cases, farmers may have given their land on lease to others who, in turn, would have grown ganja in the fields. When the enforcement authorities or local police find out, cases are also registered against the land owner (farmer), even if he was not in the know about what was cultivated, officials pointed out. The Agriculture Department is now taking up an initiative to sensitise farmers not to allow use of their land for any illegal activities.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, Agriculture Minister B C Patil said he will issue a circular to all Joint Directors, stressing that farmers should be sensitised in this regard. “Just because a few cases are registered, one should not generalise that farmers are growing ganja. Most of them work very hard day and night,” he said. Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekar also appealed to farmers to verify the background of people to whom they lease out their land. “The land owners should have an agreement that whatever the lessee grows is not their responsibility. In the event cases are registered, the farmers should have some sort of document to protect them,’’ he felt.

ALL in a day
■CCB police summons actor-couple Diganth Manchale and Aindrita Ray appear before them on Wednesday
■ On her first night in jail, actor Ragini Dwivedi is said to have stayed awake till morning and cried most of the time
■ Probe into drug raids across the country by the NCB has revealed that in some cases, transactions were carried out with overseas drug dealers through bitcoins on dark web
■ Bengaluru police have arrested five drug peddlers in separate cases and seized 17.5 kg of ganja and 2 kg of charas                       

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