The erstwhile composite Khammam district, which shares a long inter-state border with Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, appears to have become a preferred transit route for ganja smugglers.
The string of ganja seizures made by the Bhadradri-Kothagudem and Khammam district police in recent weeks corroborates this undesirable phenomenon.
A huge consignment of ganja weighing 300 kg worth about ₹36 lakh was seized by Khammam rural police from a container lorry, bound for Meerut, near Kodad crossroads on the outskirts of Khammam early on Friday morning.
Police found the contraband wrapped in 150 small bundles concealed under a load of packets containing chocolates and biscuits in the lorry, during a vehicle checking drive in the early hours of the day.
The crew of the lorry reportedly fled the spot on noticing the police, leaving the vehicle on the roadside, sources said.
This comes close on the heels of the seizure of a large consignment of ganja worth ₹48.67 lakh from a Jaipur-bound container lorry, bearing Rajasthan registration number, by Bhadrachalam police near the temple town on December 18.
Police arrested two drivers of the lorry and launched a detailed investigation to identify the kingpins of the inter-state ganja smuggling racket.
In both the cases, the contraband originated from the Agency areas of adjoining Andhra Pradesh, sources added.
Some organised inter-state gangs are increasingly using the Chitoor-Bhadrachalam-Khammam-Suryapet route to smuggle ganja in container lorries to big cities in north India, mainly due to the stepped-up vigil by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to foil attempts by peddlers to smuggle ganja by trains.
