Visakhapatnam: Police have intensified the exercise to identifyillegal assetsamassed by cannabis smugglers and the kingpins in the ganja trade to combatganja trafficking.Police have decided to seek the help of the neighbouring Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other state govts, along with a few other agencies, to identify and seize the property of the inter-state ganja trade offenders.With black market price of Sheelavathi, a strain of cannabis grown in the Andhra Odisha Border (AOB) region, rising to 1 lakh per kg in various parts of the country, the ganja smugglers and kingpins in the trade amassed crores of illegal assets. The smugglers procured the weed from parts of AOB at a cost of 3,000 to 4,000 per kg and reportedly sold it at 80,000 to 1 lakh in metro cities, minting huge profits.Speaking to TOI, deputy inspector general of Visakhapatnam Range, Gopinath Jatti, said they identified some smugglers who amassed assets by involving themselves in ganja smuggling and financing cannabis cultivation in the tribal pockets in the AOB region.”We have formed teams to investigate properties acquired through the cannabis trade and the assets concealed in various forms. Our teams have been working with the Revenue, Stamps and Registration, and a few other departments to unearth the illegal assets of the smugglers,” he added.Around six years ago, movable and immovable properties (0.40 cents of land and Rs 1.02 lakh cash) of ganja smuggler Pothuraju Kumaraswamy (25) were attached by the competent authority. Kumaraswamy, a resident of BB Patnam of Rolugunta mandal in Anakapalle district, was involved in several cases of green drug smuggling in the region. A decade ago, assets of two ganja smugglers, Udi Babji and Ghising Prem Bahudhar, were seized.Amit Bardar, SP of Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district, said properties of the drug traffickers can be seized under section 68(F) of the NDPS Act, and action will be taken after due approval from the competent authorities.”Our teams have been on the job to expose the financial transactions between the ganja suppliers and smugglers, and soon we will nab some of the kingpins in the cannabis trade,” he added.The NDPS Act’s Chapter 5A grants law enforcement agencies the authority to not only seize and freeze but also forfeit assets that are either derived from or used in illegal drug trafficking activities, the police added.With a cannabis (ganja) haul of over 5 lakh kgs in the last five years,Andhra Pradeshstood in second place in the country in terms of seizure of contraband.The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) puts the figure at 5.22 lakh kg for the five-year period of 2019-2023.

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