Drug peddling hits new low

BERHAMPUR: The recent demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes by the government has hit the ganja smuggling in Kandhamal, one of the hubs of the contraband.
The district police have registered total six cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act during this month, arrested 12 persons and seized 198 kg of ganja while being smuggled out to other places.
Out of the six cases, two cases were registered with regard to destruction of the ganja cultivation in Baliguda, where police and excise personnel destroyed around 160 acres of ganja cultivation and arrested five persons.
In the post-demonetization period, only one ganja smuggling case was detected under Sarangagada police limits on November 11 in which three persons were arrested where as other three smuggling cases were registered in the pre-demonetization period in which four persons were arrested, two from Bengaluru, official sources said.
During this period every year ganja smuggling was very rampant in the district. But smuggling went down after the ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, said a police officer. "We think the smugglers might have procured the ganja from the tribal people at Sarangagada on credit," said IIC, Sarangagada police station, Anudhata Parichha.
The tribal-dominated Kandhamal is infamous for the large-scale ganja cultivation. People in interior pockets of the district cultivate hemp plants to get money from Maoists, who patronize the contraband cultivation.
From the cultivators to users, the mode of payment is in cash. Since the high denomination notes have been demonetised, the smugglers have been unable to pay the farmers to procure the ganja. It might be one of the causes for the decline in ganja smuggling cases, said sub-divisional police officer, Baliguda, SN Murmu. He, however, said police continue to keep a strict vigil on the smugglers.