Visakhapatnam: Despite claims by the police and excise officials, illegal ganja trade in Vizag district continues unabated. The alleged nexus between uniformed officials and ganja smugglers has aggravated the situation. Recently, an excise inspector of Paderu was suspended for his alleged involvement in ganja smuggling. Narsipatnam Inspector of Prohibition and Excise M. Jaganmohan Rao was suspended for pilferage of over Rs 6 crore ganja seized from smugglers in 2015. Jaganmohan Rao had sold the ganja back to smugglers.
The ever-increasing ganja trade in Vizag region points to the strong nexus between officials and the smugglers and some tainted officials in the departments have amassed crores of rupees by helping the ganja smugglers. Both police and excise departments have seized over 1,940 tonnes of dry ganja (excise officials seized 560 tonnes) in the past three years from 2015 in Andhra Pradesh.
“However, only two tainted officials have dented our dedicated task by supporting ganja smugglers. If any officer is found guilty, we will take action. We have already suspended two inspectors who had links with ganja traders,” said director of prohibition and excise K. Venkateswara Rao. Lured by traders, youngsters have taken up ganja smuggling in both the rural and urban areas of the district. They act as mediators as well as pilots for the vehicles used to transport the contraband.
“Unless aided by the uniformed forces (police and excise), transport of hemp in such huge volume is not possible. The big sharks in the illegal trade are going scot-free, while small fish in the trade are being netted by police and excise officials,” CPM leaders Ch. Narasinga Rao and K. Lokanatham said. Sources said the turno-ver of ganja trade in Vizag region and Andhra-Odi-sha Border has reached Rs 12,000 crore per annum and smugglers from all parts of the country are landing in Vizag Agency.
Denying the allegation of a nexus, deputy excise commissioner, Vizag, Ch. Gopala Krishna, said their department has been doing a great job in terms of seizure of ganja and destruction of ganja plantation in spite of shortage of staff. “We have three stations spread over 11 mandals of the agency compared to the police who have stations in all the mandals and we are chalking out plans to enforce the NDPS Act with the help of central enforcement agencies,” he added.
The Maoists have alleged that the police in Vizag Agency area collect monthly mamools from ganja smugglers and ganja growers for smooth flow of the illegal business. However, Vizag Rural police chief Rahul Dev Sharma said cops had no links with ganja traders and have been trying to root out ganja by encouraging alternative crops.
