Drug addiction spreading in Rajasthan: police

Jaipur, Aug 27 (IANS) Youths in Rajasthan are becoming drug addicts at an alarming rate and the recent seizure of around 832 kgs of marijuana from Jaipur and Dholpur proves this, senior police officers told IANS on Tuesday.

Last week, the CID-CB wing of Rajasthan Police seized 832 kgs of marijuana which was being transported from Odisha to Rajasthan.

In the first raid at a house in Jaipur, over 650 kgs of 'ganja' was seized while in another raid, a truck carrying 182 kg of marijuana was impounded which contained concentrated marijuana packed in the most fine manner. This was one of the biggest drug seizures in Jaipur.

While in the first case, the drug was to be supplied to shopkeepers nears schools and colleges, in colonies and local lanes to turn youths into drug addicts, in the second raid too, the ganja was supposed to be supplied in Jaipur, said ADG Crime B.L. Soni.

Soni said that the entire network shall be exposed soon as police have already started a campaign against drug mafias.

He did not rule out the possibility that the contraband seized in Jaipur was to be supplied to school and college students via small packets being sold at small shops situated near educational institutes. "The contraband drug is also used in hookah bars to turn youths into addicts," he added.

Meanwhile, another officer said that 10 per cent of school and university students have become regular consumers of these drugs.

"Those who are low qualified are selling this drug to people due to poverty while rich people are consuming it under stress and societal pressure," he said adding that as marijuana is cheap and does not smell, it has become a favourite of students, auto drivers as well as foreign tourists.

There is a high demand for this product from Israeli tourists too and hence its sale is rampant in Pushkar, he said.

In fact, last month too, around 30 kgs of marijuana was seized from Shivdaspura in Rajasthan, he added.

The drug in such a huge quantity is never meant to be supplied to customers directly, he said adding "What we have figured out is that there is a proper marketing chain in place where the wholesalers are supplying this drug to retailers and retailers to agents. The agents are small shopkeepers who have started storing this banned drug in their shops due to enormous demand."

Such concentrated form of marijuana comes from Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Chhattisgarh, Naxals have a strong role in supplying this drug to different places, he said.

As the trucks pass through different states, they pack it in between different products to ensure they are not caught. Generally, the trucks carrying contraband travel during day hours as they believe that police are active during the night.

"Recently, we also found out that a temple priest in Bikaner had sown marijuana in his temple premises for self consumption which was hidden between different trees," the officer said.

Meanwhile, Soni said that the raids in Rajasthan are among strong actions taken against drug smugglers.

"We are further investigating about who are the people behind these rackets and who are the final consumers. We have got clues that a few hookah bars are also the clients of these drug smugglers," he said.