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Four held on charge of transporting ganja

BERHAMPUR: Four youths from Gajapati district, who were trying to transport around a quintal of marijuana to Chennai, were arrested by the police at a lodge in the city on Saturday.

It again proves that Berhampur happens to be the major transit point of illicit ganja trading in Orissa. The four arrested youths were from Karanjisahi village under R. Udaygiri police station in Gajapati district. They reached the city on Friday evening and checked into the lodge along with ganja.

According to leader of the team, Abhiram Raita, a tribal, who works in a private firm in Chennai, they resorted to the transportation of the illicit narcotic to make some easy money.

On June 4, large quantity of ganja was seized from a room of a hotel near old bus stand in the city and two persons of Gajapati district, who were trying to transport ganja for trading were arrested. One among the arrested was an educated youth who had got into it for easy money. In March, around two quintal of ganja packed in seven briefcases was seized from a bus proceeding towards Berhampur at Aska. On February 20, personnel of the Mohana police station in Gajapati district seized more than 50 kg of ganja from a car during anti-naxal patrolling. During regular check-up of the vehicle proceeding towards Berhampur they unearthed the narcotics.

Five persons involved in the illegal transportation of narcotics were arrested. On January 21, a youth of Mohana in Gajapati district was arrested from new bus stand of the city along with 25 kg of ganja which he was transporting to Gujarat. Large quantity of ganja was also seized from unclaimed luggage in buses from Kandhamal, Gajapati and Malkangiri districts.

It may be noted that Berhampur happens to be the major trading centre of south Orissa having good connectivity. Ganja is illegally cultivated in remote areas of Kandhamal, Gajapati and Malkangiri districts of south Orissa. Usually the mafia behind this illegal cultivation use the youth of the area in the transportation of their produce to different parts of the State and outside it. The youths generally use Berhampur as their transit point.

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