100 kg of ganja worth Rs 6 lakh seized in Vizag

VISAKHAPATNAM: In a major haul, police officials seized about 100kgs of ganja worth Rs 6 lakh from an auto-rickshaw at Vadipa Junction of Rolugunta mandal in the district in wee hours on Saturday.On a tip-off, police kept a tab on the movement of vehicles between Rolugunta and Ravikamatam since Friday night.Around four in the morning on Saturday, police stopped an auto-rickshaw, seized the ganja and arrested smugglers P Kalyanam, C Govind, P Ramana and a woman G Nookaratnam, belonging to Ratnampeta of Rolugunta mandal in the district.The smugglers packed the Sheelavathi quality dry ganja in five gunny bags. The ganja,stuffed between utensils in the auto-rickshaw was to be sent to traders in Narsipatnam and Ongole.Rolugunta Police said from 2009 till now, around 4,000 kgs of Sheelavathi quality dry ganja and 100 vehicles have been seized near Rolugunta while around 50 smugglers including Tamilians have been arrested so far. Visakhapatnam has emerged as a safe haven for ganja smugglers for the past few years. Thousands of kgs of ganja was seized by excise and police departments in the last few years.But that is only tip of an iceberg, claim police pointing out that majority of smuggled ganja goes undetected as it is cultivated in tribal areas where Maoists call the shots, said sources.According to official sources, about 10,000 kgs of dry ganja was seized in 2010 and 5,000 kgs from January to June this year in Visakhapatnam which speaks volumes about the flourishing ganja cultivation in the district.