Lokesh dares CM, DGP on ganja smuggling from AP

Mangalagiri; TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh on Friday expressed concern that Andhra Pradesh emerged as the source of ganja that was being seized by the police and vigilance wings of most other States across the country.

Lokesh said that the investigating officers of Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have already clarified that the ganja seized by them came from AP. In whichever corner of the country the drug gangs were busted, they were being traced to Andhra these days. Within two-and-half years, the YSRCP regime has turned AP into a 'drug hub of India'.

In a statement here, Lokesh asked the Chief Minister and the DGP whether they would serve notices on the top police officers of other States for referring to AP as the source of drugs. Those officers were holding press conferences and telling the country about the Andhra ganja gangs who were caught. Would the AP Police call those officers for questioning just the way the TDP leaders were being treated?

Lokesh deplored that more alarming and disturbing facts were coming to light with each passing day. The cops of other States were giving proof of how ganja grown in Visakhapatnam and other areas was being smuggled into their respective cities and towns. Even then, Jagan Mohan Reddy and the DGP were saying that Andhra had no links with drugs.

Lokesh released videos of statements of the respective cops of various States which were facing the problem of drugs being smuggled from AP. In one video, Bangalore Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said that the drugs were brought from one district in AP. The gangsters hid the drugs in a tanker and supplied them to Bengaluru and surrounding areas. Even Delhi DCP Santosh Kumar Meena said the drugs seized by them came from Andhra.

Demanding an explanation from the AP Police, Lokesh said that the ganja grown in AP was being smuggled to Pune and Mumbai. In another video, Naglonda SP Ranganath stated that the Andhra Orissa Border (AOB) was the source of cultivation and transportation of ganja to different destinations in the country.

Local Andhra leaders, vested interests, financiers, growers and brokers were all involved in this. Thousands of crores of ganja trade was going on from AP as the hub. Lokesh recalled how Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar also referred to a major drug smuggling route between Narsipatnam, AP and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra via Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Gulbarga and Solapur.

The ganja was being smuggled from Ahmednagar to Pune, Mumbai, Nashik and other places. The police officials of Madhya Pradesh and Kerala have also referred to AP as the source of drugs seized by them.