Illegal sale of hand-rolled ganja cigarettes is reportedly rampant in Bhubaneswar with a majority of customers being students and youths.
Ganja sold under code names!
Interestingly, the stuff is being sold under code-names like ‘Baba’, ‘Special’, ‘Sukha’, ‘Rocket’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Chamba,’ and ‘Topa’ for anything between Rs 10 and Rs 100 a piece.
Mostly, women are allegedly found involved in the making of such banned substances.
Though the sale of such substance was an open secret to all, the matter came to the fore after Excise officials arrested a woman, identified as Kamala Sahu, in Kapileswar and seized over 12 kg of ganja and huge quantities of hand-made ganja cigarettes from her possession. Kamala and his husband used to make such cigarettes which have been seeing a growing demand in the smart city.
Deputy Superintendent of the Excise, Rajshekhar Swain said that the couple used to bring ganja from Kandhamal and rolled them into cigarettes that were being sold in the market.
Massive seizure in 2023
As per reports, ganja is being smuggled from various parts of Malkangiri, Nabarangur, Koraput, and Kandhamal districts into Bhubaneswar. The STF of the Odisha Crime Branch seized 456 kg of ganja in Bhubaneswar in 2023 while the Commissionerate Police seized 390 kg in the same year.
The Excise department had earlier seized ganja cigarettes from one Rangabati Das in Bisweswar slum of Acharya Vihar on July 19, 2023. She was selling the cigarettes in a betel shop. Over 5000 cigarettes and 24 kg of ganja were seized from her possession.
On December 15, 2023, Bharatpur Police arrested a girl who was selling ganja which was brought from Kandhamal.
Similarly, 8 kg of ganja and a sackful of ganja cigarettes were seized from a pan shop near a private Science college in Mahcheswar on January 15, 2024.
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The number of seizures of ganja cigarettes points to the fact that the illegal trade of the banned substance has been thriving in Bhubaneswar.
Both educationists and students have expressed concerns over the fact that students and youths are falling into the traps of such banned substances