Hyderabad: The Hyderabad city police stepped up its drive against marijuana trade in the city. Bulk buyers, local retailers and drug transporters are on police radar to curb drug peddling in the city. On Sunday alone, 12 FIRs were registered and 18 persons were arrested in the city and on Monday, 13 more FIRs were registered and 21 individuals were placed under arrest.
Speaking to this newspaper, Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar said a special drive was launched after the state level review meeting was held at Pragathi Bhavan chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao who declared an ‘all-out war’ against drug menace in the state, primarily marijuana.
“The Chief Minister addressed all police commissioners, superintendents of police in the districts and excise officials among others to tackle the drug flow.
Accordingly, every zone in Hyderabad, including north, south, west, east and central, has two teams which will collect information on drug users and peddlers and share it with the law and order wing. Every ACP in the law and order wing has a team under him, which is sent to the said areas to tackle the issue.
Meanwhile, we also have seven teams from the special branch who coordinate with the task force teams with five inspectors,” said the official.
The Chief Minister specifically instructed the officials to act against cultivation and use of cannabis/ganja and directed the state's police force to develop a comprehensive action plan to completely eradicate ganja production. “The usage of cannabis is on the increase. There is an urgent need to declare an all-out war against drug abuse. Before the situation goes out of hand and becomes severe, one should be alert,” the Chief Minister said.
“We are establishing a link between those caught with drugs and their suppliers. We have identified a few men from outside the state who are involved in the trade. We will not stop this drive till we completely eliminate marijuana from the city. We also had four cases in which peddlers were caught possessing ecstasy pills,” added the police commissioner.
Meanwhile, excise officials were also told to strengthen their squads, and the state's intelligence department was told to form a team to strengthen their communication network.
