With stringent checks against smuggling and sale of ganja in Hyderabad, peddlers seem to have shifted to another contraband —hashish oil or weed oil, which is easier to carry and transport.
Instead of smuggling heavy loads of dry ganja, this liquid ganja is packed into bottles and smuggled. After bringing it here, around 5 ml of hashish oil is packed into tiny plastic containers. Since the oil is viscous, it is measured either in gram or millilitre.
Officials of the Excise department say that they used to seize the contraband only occasionally until a few years ago. But now, there is an uptick in seizure of the contraband in and around the city limits. “Hashish oil seizure has increased in the past few months. Besides us, police department too has been seizing the contraband. The peddlers might be opting to smuggle hashish oil instead of dry ganja since the former is easier to carry,” says an official.
The officials say hashish oil is smuggled from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. A litre purchased for ₹40,000-50,000 is packed into tiny plastic containers with five or seven ml of it sold for ₹1,500-2,000.
