Twin Cities' Dark Underworld: Families Turn to Marijuana Peddling in Plain Sight

HYDERABAD: Lured by large returns, several families in the twin cities have taken to peddling marijuana, establishing networks to source the substance, store it, and develop a delivery chain, including through local mom-and-pop grocery stores.

Sources said that to evade the police, schoolchildren, and women are used to deliver the substances in grocery bags and school bags.

A 35-year-old peddler said: “Families who have adopted the ganja business earn Rs2.5-Rs3 lakh per month, as much as a highly qualified software engineer.”

 A 25-year-old man, who procures marijuana, said that while the men generally contact the dealers and farmers, women members are tasked with selling it to customers. The profits average around 200 per cent over our costs, he said.

“My parents earlier used to sell countrymade arrack, then got into the liquor business. They observed that there is high demand for marijuana and ended up making it our family business,” the man, who is pursuing his graduation, said.

He said there are around 90 families on the city outskirts who deal marijuana, while 70 more in the city also peddle marijuana.

Another city-based peddler, who runs a kiosk, said that earlier, families used to arrange their transport to misguide the police, but currently, they are using minors and women as mules.

 “Peddlers pay between Rs1,000 and Rs2,000 to the carrier for a trip. The woman collects the parcel from a transport company, places the same in her bag covered with vegetables, rice, or any grocery, and delivers the same,” the kiosk owner said.

Sources said that there are over 17 women and 15 minors, especially girls dressed in school uniform, who work as carriers. Some of them do not even know what they are transporting; they are only concerned with the payment.

According to another peddler, the modus operandi is to start with a grocery shop or a vegetable shop. “The business starts at 4 am and goes on till 6.30 am, as police officials change their shifts, with hardly any presence on roads after 4 am,” said Godavari, a local who earned Rs8 lakh in seven months and got her daughter married, said.

A big-scale dealer said that the raw marijuana is delivered from Andhra Pradesh in a compressed form and hydrochloride chemical is added to it for storage. He said there are multiple sellers across districts of Telangana, but refused to divulge further details.

“Cultivators are not trustworthy anymore. After collecting money from customers, they pass the information to state police along with the vehicle number, colour, mobile phone number, and names. But we have developed our own sources for safe transportation. We only sell in small quantities to our known customers and never sell in bulk” – Bhabhi, peddler