Naxal-hit areas used for illegal cannabis cultivation: Narcotics Control Bureau

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NEW DELHI

The Naxal affected areas of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been used for illegal cannabis cultivation and the contraband produced there find its way to all over the country, officials said on Tuesday.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has also seized a sizeable amount of narcotics substances in different parts of the country in the last two months. Between August and the first week of October, the NCB has seized a total 10,700.5 kilograms in various parts of the country.

Illegal cannabis cultivation in India is largely concentrated around the Naxalism-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal and difficult hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, a government official said.

‘Ganja’ from these regions find its way to all over the country, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and is also smuggled across to Sri Lanka.

Hostile terrain and inaccessibility make this area difficult for law enforcement agencies to conduct raids and destroy illicit cannabis cultivation, the official said.

There is a rapidly increasing popularity of MDMA, commonly known as ‘ecstasy’, in the country. Synthetic opioids such as Tramadol are also gaining its space in the drug abuse circle.

Because of COVID-19 pandemic, drug trafficking through courier parcels is also gaining momentum.