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Ganja from Odisha to Mumbai via Telangana
Konark Express, one of the oldest trains connecting major cities in the eastern part of the country with Mumbai, has become a sort of deus ex machina for ganja smuggling. The recent raids by the Railway police in Vijayawada, Khammam, Mahabubabad and Warangal section exposed that ganja smuggling is rampant through trains, especially Konark Express.
Khammam/Warangal: Konark Express, one of the oldest trains connecting major cities in the eastern part of the country with Mumbai, has become a sort of deus ex machina for ganja smuggling. The recent raids by the Railway police in Vijayawada, Khammam, Mahabubabad and Warangal section exposed that ganja smuggling is rampant through trains, especially Konark Express.
Ganja cultivation is widespread in several hilly areas of Odisha and the trend is on the rise year by year, this is what the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) says. This apparently due to easy money involved in the trade. According to the data, ganja was cultivated in around 4,000 acres during 2016-17 in Odisha.
From the source to sale of points, several drug syndicates involve in transporting the product to various destinations spread across several States, according to reports. The modus operandi of the smuggling is that the ganja sourced from inaccessible locations through cars and trucks is finally transported through trains.
En route to Mumbai, the peddlers also supply the contraband to local traders, who pick it at various railway stations. With the peddlers in the guise of students and a bunch of people going for an excursion travelling in the trains, it has become a Herculean task for the government railway police (GRP) to search each and everyone’s luggage in 25 coaches of the train.
Even if the GRP personnel catch the contraband, they are finding it difficult to identify the smugglers. The peddlers, who put their bags beneath the seats, sit somewhere else and abandon in case police find them.
Monday’s incident in which a special team of the GRP seized 14 kg of ganja from a coach in Konark Express near Khammam and four other such incidents in the last week suggest that ganja smuggling is relying heavily on rail route.
Speaking to The Hans India, Khammam Government Railway Police Sub-inspector B Ravi Kumar said: “The information is that the contraband is being brought from Odisha region. The peddlers, it appears, transporting the ganja through Konark and LTT express trains bound for Mumbai. The authorities have deployed special teams to curb the malady.”
