HYDERABAD: Hyderabad city police in an attempt to curb the ganja menace in the city, have arrested 128 persons involved in 82 cases of smuggling ganja and seized 1,500 kg of the product till September 2021.
As a part of their ongoing drive against ganja smugglers, police on Tuesday arrested one of the kingpins of the ganja supplying gangs, identified as Vanapalli Naga Sai, from Narsipatnam in Andhra Pradesh and seized 40 kg ganja from him, whose estimated market value is Rs 4 lakh.
Naga Sai was earlier involved in two ganja smuggling cases at Amberpet and Malakpet. North Zone task force sleuths in a joint operation with Afzalgunj police caught him after he landed in Hyderabad and was about to handover the stock to his associates from Zaheerabad.
This year, city police have registered cases against 239 persons for involvement in ganja smuggling, of which 128 were arrested. As many as 24 offenders have been detained under PD Act, including people from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that police also identified 13 new peddlers and counselled them. In the city, Dhoolpet, RTC X-Roads and Jubilee Hills are prime locations for supply.
Radhakishan Rao, DCP Taskforce, said that as most of the peddlers have arrested, the cultivation of ganja in Warangal and Adilabad has stopped. As a result, ganja is being transported from AOB to Hyderabad and also to Maharashtra via Zaheerabad.
240 kg ganja seized during vehicle check
SANGAREDDY: Munipally police seized 240 kg of ganja packed in 120 packets, which was being smuggled from Visakhapanam in Andhra Pradesh to Mumbai, during a vehicle check at Kamkole toll plaza on Tuesday. Two persons, Shekar and Raja Stalin, have been arrested