Warangal Task Force crackdown on ganja smugglers yields good results in 2022

They have seized 49.48 tonnes of dry ganja worth Rs 6.38 crore from February 1 to October 27, 2022 and also registered 31 cases.

Warangal: Keeping in tune with the State government’s efforts to check the drug menace in the State, the Warangal Police Task Force have seized 49.48 tonnes of dry ganja worth Rs 6.38 crore from February 1 to October 27, 2022. They have registered 31 cases as well.

The Task Force sleuths along with police personnel from local police stations conducted vehicle checks or raids in Jangaon, Hanamkonda and Warangal districts under the Warangal Police Commissionerate and nabbed 104 persons in connection with these cases. The then Task Force Inspector Ch Srinivasji and Additional DCP Vaibhav Raghunath Gaikwad were actively involved in the mission of checking the drug menace under the directions of Dr. Tarun Joshi, who was the Warangal Commissioner during the period.

The police arrested 104 persons for smuggling marijuana in 31 cases, with a majority of them being under the age of 40 years. Nearly half of them were habitual offenders, officials said. Even youngsters aged 18 years were found to be working for the smuggling network while some women too were arrested for their involvement in smuggling and selling of ganja.

“Majority of the marijuana is grown in the forest areas of the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) and the Rampachodaram and Sileru forest areas. The smugglers use the route of Cherla, Kothagudem, Mulugu, Warangal and Jangaon to smuggle the weed. We were able to nab them with a good informer network,” a police official said.

Meanwhile, the consumption of the ganja or other synthetic drugs is also on the rise in the district. High school students were also falling prey to ganja peddlers. To help students to overcome this problem and help them lead a normal life, the Warangal police in association with the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital and ‘Bannu Arogyada Seva Society (BASS)’, a non-profit organisation, had launched a holistic drug detoxification and de-addiction programme called ‘Nayi Kiran’ in December last year. Drug addicts are helped in rehabilitation at the centre.

In the first phase of the ‘Nayi Kiran’, almost 150 students registered with the police and received counseling. Some of them were treated at the de-addiction centre.