Ganja peddling on the decline

Thanks to lockdown and closing the AP border, ganja smuggling into the city has halted. Peddlers have stocks piled up which they are supplying customers.

A thriving network of suppliers, dealers, street peddlers and urban buyers have gone under the radar hoping for ‘better’ days after the lockdown is lifted.

Ninety per cent of the ganja supply to the city comes from Vizag and the AndhraOdisha border. With the lockdown it has nearly become impossible to smuggle ganja, said an excise and prohibition official.

The official said, “Consignments ranging from 200 to 400 kgs are smuggled in heavy vehicles. Those ranging between 50 and 100 kgs are smuggled in auto trolleys and fourwheelers, concealed in fabricated cavities under the seats and in the boot. Ganja of less than 50 kgs is usually transported in private travels buses. With all the roads closed, the transportation of ganja to city has come to a grinding halt.”

It is the same scenario with other drugs like cocaine, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and MDMA (methylene dioxy methamphetamine). However, piled-up stocks with suppliers means that they are trying sneak it to the buyers.

A few days ago, Osmania University police nabbed two drug peddlers trying to transport ganja. They were stopped at checkpoints at Tarnaka and a search of the vehicle yielded the drug. The accused had brought the half a kilogram of ganja for `4,000 in Dhoolpet to sell it to customers in Nacharam.

In another instance, the Dhoolpet police arrested a drug peddler and seized two kilograms of ganja being transported to other parts of city.

“During the lockdown, 10 grams of ganja costs `400. In normal times, the price is `100. The sale of ganja has decreased up to 80 per cent,” added the official.