Rajahmundry: To tackle ganja smuggling effectively, the state government is going to set up a special task force similar to the one dealing with red sanders in the state.
The STF will find out the area where ganja is being cultivated by availing of high-end technology, destroy it, nab the culprits, book cases, do proper investigation and pursue the cases in the courts properly to ensure conviction.
As cases have to be booked under various provisions of the IPC and CrPC, the state government may have to work out guidelines enabling the STF personnel to do so.The top brass of the police has been holding meetings to work out various means to tackle ganja smuggling.
It held a meeting earlier in Rajahmundry, and recently in Visakhapatnam on June. 21. Ganja smugglers change their modus operandi frequently to evade the police.
Now, the smugglers smuggle small quantities of ganja from the interior agencies to the plain areas in scooty dickeys.
The police say as college students, mainly girls, arrive at Rampachodavaram Agency area to visit tourist spots at Maredumilli and other areas from Kakinada, Rajahmundry and other area on bikes and scooties, the smugglers intend to smuggle the ganja in such bikes presuming that they can evade police.
However, the police detected their modus operandi and intensified the vigil by frisking bikes in the Agency areas.
The smugglers are also engaging minor boys to smuggle ganja packed in regular bags meant to carry clothes while travelling in RTC buses. The Rampachodavaram police booked a case recently where two boys aged 16 and 14 years, hailing from Nagpur, were nabbed as they were smuggling ganja from Pathakota of Visakhapatnam Agency to Chintur in East Godavari to Maharashtra.
Rampachodavaram ASP Adnan Nayeem Asmi said, “A dedicated force like STF mainly to tackle ganja smuggling is likely to be formed shortly in the state.”
