Vizag Police Bust 69 Gangs Involved in Ganja Racket

 Visakhapatnam: After uprooting ganja plantations, the Visakhapatnam range police have changed their approach by integrating enforcement efforts, drone surveillance, and community involvement to effectively dismantle consumption and transportation of the narcotics.

Visakhapatnam DIG Gopinath Jetti revealed a crackdown strategy that focuses on a strategic, tech-enabled, community-driven model aimed at eradicating the menace at its roots. The police range encompasses five districts, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, ASR (Alluri Sitarama Raju), Anakapalli, and Manyam.

The process has yielded results, from destroying 7,515.15 acres of ganja in 2021-22 to reducing cultivation to 1,039.32 acres in 2022-23, further down to 347.59 acres in 2023-24, and finally to 93.01 acres in the current year, he said.

Operation Parivarthana employed drone technology, achieving 2,120 hours of flight time to locate and eradicate ganja cultivation at 158 sites across 38 villages in six mandals. The operation targeted cultivation areas, with the largest destruction (13,050 plants) at 37.8 acres in Pedabayalu mandal, followed by Koyyuru with 16.8 acres (6,685 plants) and Munchingiput at 16 acres (6,500 plants).

A total of 93.01 acres, which included 30,295 plants, were destroyed. From June 2024 to June 2025, police seized 40,063.273 kg of marijuana and 17.94 kg of hashish oil, resulting in the arrest of 1,945 individuals, among whom 740 were interstate offenders, and 694 cases were registered under the NDPS Act.

Advanced surveillance operations spanned 14,870 acres across 327 villages, employing four drones, while 26 permanent checkposts equipped with CCTV monitoring and 289 dynamic checkpoints were established throughout the area. Additionally, nine specialised canine units were deployed to detect concealed marijuana. The operation also dismantled criminal organisations, resulting in the dismantling of 25 interstate gangs and 44 inter-district gangs.

The police opened 1,310 NDPS cases to monitor key offenders and identified assets worth Rs 9.76 crore for financial scrutiny.

Furthermore, police have planted 4.68 million specimens of 22 different species across 10,803.25 acres for the Rabi season, guiding 10,256 farmers from 20 mandals towards sustainable farming methods. In addition, 4,496 quintals of Rajma seeds were distributed to 35,618 farmers in areas known for ganja cultivation.

The "Sankalpam mission mode programme" implemented 10,654 awareness initiatives in 3,039 educational institutions, distributing a total of 72,106 brochures.

The police set up 376 drop boxes for anonymous reporting related to NDPS and sent 161 individuals to drug rehabilitation centres. The DIG highlighted the strategy, indicating that they were now concentrating on three key areas which include cultivation, consumption, and transportation”. "We have transitioned from merely distributing crops to filing criminal charges against farmers who cultivate them. Our method integrates technology, community involvement, and ongoing legal measures," he stated.

Police have established specialised teams to address interstate operations, deploying 36 teams across various states and apprehending about 450 individuals from locations such as Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The drug disposal committee has methodically eliminated seized narcotics in stages, including 34,818 kg of ganja and 39 kg of hashish oil in Anakapalli district in January 2025, 30,000.57 kg of ganja and 35.26 kg of hashish oil in ASR district in February 2025, and 7,378 kg of ganja across Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, and Manyam districts in March 2025.