Ernakulam becomes Kerala's ganja hub

KOCHI: Ganja cultivated on an industrial scale in the forest areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha is being smuggled into Kerala using migrant labourers to cater to a growing market centred in Kochi. The Narcotics Control Bureau recently shifted its base from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam to focus on the network's nerve centre.
Officials said that migrant labourers are being used as couriers for transporting drugs to the state through Aluva and Angamaly.NCB superintendent Venugopal G Kurup said, This is then supplied by peddlers, mostly locals, to school and college children and migrant workers in Ernakulam district. This is the main reason that we decided to shift our regional office to Kochi." After the office was shifted in July, NCB seized 25 kg of ganja and arrested two workers from Odisha.
Ganja is sold in the district for Rs12, 000 to Rs 15,000 per kg. Kurup said the ganja is mainly cultivated in the forests along the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border and then brought to the city by train or bus. Most of the seizures were made from migrant labourers from Odisha. Migrant labourers from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh are also involved in trafficking, he said. "Their main targets are college and school children, besides migrant labourers," said Kurup.
A former NCB official said that the agency should concentrate on tackling organized syndicates operating at the international level. NCB is the nodal agency to gather intelligence, disseminate and prevent trafficking at the international level,'' he said.
"Apart from seizing narcotic substances, we are also coordinating with other enforcement agencies. As of now, we have not detected that the drug money is used for terror activities. But it can't be ruled out," Kurup said.
The city police has arrested several drug traffickers, mostly students with 10 gm to 200 gm of ganja. In the period January to July 2014, Ernakulam rural police has registered 111 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and arrested 160 people. The city police had registered 258 cases under NDPS Act and arrested 312 persons.
"NCB investigation has found that some Keralites are cultivating ganja in the forest area of Andhra Pradesh-Odisha. The inputs from Intelligence Bureau also indicated this trend. The drug is then stocked at Madurai, from where at regular intervals the local drug dealers bring ganja by bus or train through locals to Ernakulam and then supply to the peddlers here,'' an official said. Ganja is packed in boxes of 5 kg to 10 kg and smuggled into the city.
Last Monday night, city police arrested two persons, including a woman, with 12 kg of ganja and the probe showed that 500 drug peddlers were operating in the city and suburbs. Last week, police seized 3.5 kg ganja from Thoppumpady. The ganja was brought from Madurai in both cases. Joseph Saju, assistant commissioner, Narcotic Control Cell, Kochi City said, "In the last seven months police seized 40kg of ganja from the city. Migrant workers are the main suppliers and carriers of ganja in the district. It's difficult to get information about ganja supply as migrant workers communicate only in their mother tongue".
The enforcement agencies said that smuggling of other drugs like cocaine and heroin is very minimal in the state and district. They said that only a couple of cases of smuggling of cocaine and heroin were reported in the state in the last couple of years.