The Andhra Pradesh police on Saturday destroyed more than two lakh kilograms of cannabis (ganja) worth around Rs 500 crore under Operation Parivarthan programme at Koduru village near Anakapalli in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
More than 2 lakh kgs of ganja were seized in the last one and a half years to two years at various police stations in North Andhra districts. The narcotics was set on fire in the presence of state director general of police D Gautam Sawang.
This is said to be the first of its kind exercise in the entire country. Several senior police officers were present at the spot. The programme was supervised by drone cameras.
Operation Parivartan was launched on October 31 last year and between November 2021 to February 2022, the Andhra Pradesh Police have deforested ganja plants spread across 8,500 acres, before the harvest season.
Under the operation, a total of 1,363 cases were registered and 1,500 people were arrested, out of which 562 people were from other states.
A CMO spokesman said the special operation undertaken to eliminate the cultivation and supply of cannabis, an initiative of this magnitude has never been taken up before and it pushes the state’s united fight against drugs.
This operation was led by the Andhra Pradesh Police, in collaboration with the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) to tackle the AOB (Andhra Orrisa Border) Agency region in Visakhapatnam.
Speaking at the press conference during the event, The DGP said, “Today we are witnessing a clandestine event, 2 lakh kgs of seized cannabis is being destroyed. Our government has given a mandate to the SEB to curb cannabis, Operation Parivartan has two parts one is through technology and the other is intensive vigilance, previously 3000 acres were destroyed in 2016-17, now through the use of technology and innovations, 7,552 acres were destroyed.”
The AP police devised the operation, with a two-pronged strategy. While the primary goal was to find and destroy Marijuana crops, the operation also aimed to educate indigenous communities participating in the production. The operation, which included revenue, tribal welfare, agricultural, and ITDA personnel, aimed to rehabilitate persons involved in the cannabis trade by giving alternative livelihood opportunities.
The DGP added “In the last year we have seized 3 lakh + Kilograms of Cannabis. Most of this Cannabis cultivation takes place in the AOB border, in which most of the cultivation takes place in 29 districts of Orissa and 2 districts of Andhra Pradesh, being 11 Mandals.
By Geo-mapping the exit routes of the terrain, we have found out that most of the exit routes are in Andhra Pradesh. The AOB is a very vast area, densely influenced by Naxals and Maoists, due to which the AP police and government couldn’t access the area.
But, since the last one year, there has been a focused drive by SEB and the Police department resulting in today’s fruits of labor. Due to the vigilance and monitoring of the exit routes, we have also learned the MOs of the Cannabis smugglers, he added.
