Anakapalli District Police bust inter-district ganja racket, seize 194 kg contraband

The Anakapalli District Police on Monday seized 194 kg of ganja and busted an inter-district drug smuggling network during a targeted operation at Buchayyapeta.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Tuhin Sinha said the seized contraband was valued at around ₹97 lakh in the grey market.

Based on specific intelligence inputs, a joint operation was carried out by the Eagle Team, Special Branch, and Buchayyapeta police. The police intercepted the accused at Gonnavanipalem junction on the Bangarumetta-Anakapalli road on May 11. The contraband was allegedly being transported in a Maruti Ciaz and a scooter.

Three people were arrested. They were identified as Gummala Perunaidu, who police said was a habitual offender with six previous cases against him, Mandipalli Sathibabu, a cultivator from Alluri Sitharama Raju district, and Gollavelli Ganesh.

Mr. Sinha said the district police had adopted a “zero-tolerance” policy against narcotics trafficking, focusing not only on seizures but also on dismantling the financial networks behind drug operations and ensuring strict prosecution.

“In the last one-and-a-half years, convictions have been secured in 13 NDPS cases, with 16 persons sentenced to prison terms ranging between 10 and 15 years. Properties worth ₹1.25 crore linked to NDPS offences have also been frozen following financial investigations,” he said.

The SP said there had been a noticeable change in smuggling patterns, with traffickers increasingly shifting from ganja transportation to substances such as hashish oil, which are harder to detect. He pointed to the seizure of 7.14 litres of hashish oil this year as indicative of the trend.

The operation was supervised by M. Sravani and G. Koteswara Rao. The police appealed to the public to share information related to narcotics activity through the 112 and 1972 toll-free helplines, assuring anonymity to informants.