Ganja packets wrapped in aluminium foil seized from two peddlers, in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

Ganja smugglers are reportedly coming up with innovative tactics to evade stringent crackdowns on the illegal trade by the police.

In a recent raid at MVP Colony, officials from the City Task Force busted a ganja smuggling racket in which the accused were reportedly selling the contraband by packing it in aluminium foil meant to package food items.

Police officers said the idea to smuggle the ganja in broad daylight by disguising it as food parcels was highly ingenious. “This is probably for the first time that we have seen such a modus operandi in the city, where the smugglers were selling the ganja to their customers by packing it in aluminium foils to make them look like food packets,” said A. Trinad Rao, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) on the City Task Force.

Based on credible information, the CTF teams conducted raids near MVP Rythu Bazaar on Tuesday and arrested two youth identified as K. Chenna Kesava (23) and G. Vishnu Vardhan (23). Both the accused were employed by a man named Ch. Rami Reddy (26) as delivery boys to carry the packets and hand them over them to his customers. Rami Reddy is on the run.

Giving details of the illegal transactions, CTF Sub-Inspector Vasu Naidu said that the entire transaction between the peddler and the customer is highly discreet and efficient. Minimal details are shared, and that too on a need-to-know basis. Deals are finalised over phone, and a rendezvous point is decided upon. On the day of delivery, Rami Reddy would place a conference call to the customer and the delivery boy, and issue instructions to both. Delivery takes place smoothly at the designated spot and time.

According to CTF officials, all the three accused had studied courses in business management. Rami Reddy procures the ganja from interior areas of ASR district and sells it to a carefully curated clientele, which includes college-going boys and girls, in the city.

The delivery boys employed by Rami Reddy are his close acquaintances, who are either former classmates or friends. He pays them ₹1,000 a day. In return, all they have to do is to pack the ganja in aluminium foil using a packing machine and deliver the packets to the customers. A ganja packet weighing 50 gm would be sold for ₹500 while a 20 gm sachet would fetch a price of ₹200, according to the police.

“Police believe that if Rami Reddy is taken into custody, they would be able to ascertain further facts in the case. A manhunt has been launched for him.

It may be remembered that there were instances when ganja was transported by stuffing the contraband inside sofa sets, suitcases and parcel bags. There were cases where smugglers used renowned online delivery services to transport the weed. Public transport systems including the Railways and APSRTC buses have also been used for shipping the weed.

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Printable version | Jun 22, 2022 9:09:26 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/visakhapatnam-ganja-smugglers-devise-ingenious-tactics-to-evade-law-enforcement/article65553489.ece