Four from Vizag arrested in connection with online ganja trade

Deputy Tahsildar from Vizag caught in ACB raids

On Tuesday night, four individuals from Vizag were arrested in connection with online ganja trade.

According to the reports, the accused in question, Srinivasa Rao, is the owner of a reputed courier company’s franchise unit, located at Akkayyapalem in the city. Reportedly, two delivery boys and a driver working for him, were also involved in the drug racket.

Based on the inputs after a recent ganja bust in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) conducted raids on the franchise office at Akkayapalem. They took the gang into custody. Later on, the SEB team retrieved some ganja and packaging material with the name of the courier company printed on it from the crime spot.

As per the reports, the SEB officials said the accused might have sent around seven consignments of ganja from Vizag to Bhopal via online trade. The smuggled quantity is estimated to be around 800 to 900 kg. In order to probe into further details, the SEB is chalking out plans to scrutinise the security measures and the procedures being followed for parcel service in the e-commerce organisations.

It may be noted that Vizag Agency has been facing the issue of ganja cultivation for quite sometime. In order to crack a whip on the cultivation and trafficking of the drug, a comprehensive program ‘Parivartana’ has been conceived under the leadership of AP DGP Gautam Sawang with able support from Revenue, Forest, and Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) officials in Visakhapatnam.

In addition to the manpower, the Visakhapatam Police are also taking technological support like satellite images, GPS, and drones to locate the crops in the Visakhapatnam agency areas. As a part of the programme, the police officials trace the ganja crops and destroy them. In a bid to make Visakhapatam a cannabis-free district, Visakhapatnam DIG, LKV Ranga Rao, had earlier administered a pledge to about 100 sarpanches in Narsipatnam sub-division to eradicate ganja cultivation in their villages.