Nandapur: Kottavalasa–Kirandul (KK) railway line connecting Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, and Koraput–Rayagada (KR) railway line passing through Koraput district have reportedly turned into new corridors for ganja smuggling.
Sources said in the past eight months, the Koraput Government Railway Police (GRP) has registered 23 cases related to ganja trafficking, highlighting an alarming trend. Between March and October, 345 kg of the contraband was seized and 48 persons involved in smuggling arrested, including nine local mafia members, more than 10 educated youths and eight women, GRP OIC Santoshi Mohanta said.
Traffickers from other states, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are disguising themselves as tourists to enter Koraput district, investigations reveal. During their return journey, mafia networks operating near major railway stations coordinate the transportation.
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The traffickers, who are supplied with ganja at smaller stations by local peddlers, move consignments across state borders, facilitating the illegal trade. Mohanta said that the pattern has raised concerns among local intellectuals and residents about the district’s growing role in the illegal drug trade. Cannabis cultivated in the erstwhile undivided Koraput district has now gained a reputation for being among the finest in India, according to sources. With intensified vigilance by state police and the excise department along highways and checkpoints, traffickers have begun adopting new routes and innovative methods to transport the contraband.
Smuggling activities are reportedly taking place at several stations along these routes, including Darliput, Padua, Bheja, Machhkund, Paliba, Suku (SXV) and Suku, Koraput junction, Koraput Cabin B, Manabar, Jarti, Maliguda, Chhatriput, Jeypore, Dhanpur, Khadapa, and Kotpur along the KK line. On the KR line, hotspots include Dumuriput, Damanjodi, Baiguda, Kakiriguma, Lakshmipur, Singaram, Tikiri, Rauli, Religuma, Bhalumaska, Sikarpai, Keutaguda, Singapur, and Rayagada stations. Local peddlers supply cannabis from these points to organised dealers. Most of the arrested traffickers hail from outside Odisha, suggesting that railway routes have now become the preferred network for interstate cannabis smuggling, local observers noted.
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