Weed ’em out, City cops get to root of it

The instruction from the present City Commissioner of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal to his subordinates was loud and clear: Go beyond the catch to where it is smuggled from and those behind it to those whom it is supplied to, and weed out the menace.

As many as 148 smugglers/peddlers have been arrested and 845 kg ganja have been seized from them since Aggarwal took over as CoP. Notably, about 10 of them were from Andhra Pradesh, which is touted to be the major illegal cannabis producer, from where it is supplied to other states.

Speaking to DTNext, the Commissioner said, “We are not stopping after nabbing the ones possessing the drug. We interrogate the person and go after the network he is part of, both backward and forward, as to where he is procuring the contraband from and where he is taking it to. That is the only way to control the drug supply. We want to bust the entire ganja network and since ganja is mainly being smuggled from Andhra Pradesh, we are going after them to ensure that there is no supply from there. If we need help, we will take help from local police in Andhra,” said the official.

It may be noted that recently Nungambakkam and Virugambakkam police arrested four men each from Andhra Pradesh for supplying ganja to peddlers in the city which finally make their way to drug abusers, including those in city’s colleges.

Madhavaram Deputy Commissioner K Balakrishnan, who camped in Nasripatnam in Andhra Pradesh along with inspector Jawahar and two sub-inspectors for three days to nab the accused who supplied 461 kg ganja to Madurai-based Srajudhin, said that it was an unforgettable experience.

“It took us 14 hours to reach the village in the interior part of Andhra Pradesh. We managed to nab two major ganja suppliers. The absconding accused Navin would also be nabbed soon,” said the official.