Police crackdown hits ganja peddlers

Hyderabad: The frequent crackdowns on ganja peddlers by the City Police and the Prohibition and Excise Department are resulting in huge business losses to drug peddlers in the city, particularly in Dhoolpet. Such is the situation that many peddlers have now increased the price of the marijuana and are selling it at almost double the […]

Hyderabad: The frequent crackdowns on ganja peddlers by the City Police and the Prohibition and Excise Department are resulting in huge business losses to drug peddlers in the city, particularly in Dhoolpet.

Such is the situation that many peddlers have now increased the price of the marijuana and are selling it at almost double the earlier price. If drug addicts, who frequent Dhoolpet for buying the contraband are to be believed, a packet containing about 20 grams of dry ganja is now being sold at Rs 200 to Rs 250 as against the earlier price of Rs 100.

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“Prices have almost doubled for fear of crackdowns by the police and Excise officials. Now people are scared to venture into Dhoolpet to buy the contraband substance and the middlemen, who peddle it out from the area to other places, have hiked their price considering the huge risk,” said a person who is in the know about the situation said.

Marijuana is smuggled into the city by organised gangs from agency areas in Andhra Pradesh and small peddlers purchase it from main agents. The peddlers pack it into small sachets of small quantities and sell it to drug addicts.

While there are no official records on the quantity of the ganja sold at Dhoolpet, police have identified around 100 persons including women involved in bulk sale, transportation and retail sale of ganja.

In the last couple of weeks, both the Hyderabad City Police and the local Prohibition and Excise Department officials jointly organised crackdowns on the ganja trade. “A database of all those caught is maintained. They are regularly called for counselling,” K Naveen Kumar, Excise Superintendent, Dhoolpet said.

Officials have noticed that students and IT professionals were getting addicted to ganja. “If anyone is caught visiting Dhoolpet to purchase ganja, we will book cases against them,” warned Mangalhat Inspector G Ranveer Reddy.

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