Koraput: Police have arrested around 50 ganja smugglers, including at least 10 inter-state mafia, in past few months.

Following this, the ganja mafia have tightened its grip in the district with certain areas of Jeypore sub-division slowly turning into the new hub of cannabis trade.

Illegally cultivated in the hills and jungles of Malkangiri district and Lamataput and Machkund areas of Koraput district, ganja is smuggled to states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Sources said that while full-fledged inter-state gangs are involved in the trade, the huge profit margin has pushed up the demand for the Odisha ganja even outside India.

Speaking on the modus operandi of the gangs, Jeypore assistant police superintendent Prabhat Kumar Pradhan said: "The original traders never come in the picture. They receive orders from their counterparts outside the state and send their men with money to a particular point where ganja is cultivated to collect the consignment."

Local unemployed youths are engaged by the traders as informers, who guard the vehicle to reach a certain distance safely. From there, another group takes charge and the consignment is subsequently taken outside the state. "The easy and quick money attracts youths to this illegal trade," the officer said.

At times, local gangs hijack the consignment vehicle of traders from outside the state and sell it to a different party. "Since the trade is illegal, no police complaint is lodged on the hijack," Pradhan said.

The police said there was no specific corridor for ganja smuggling in the district. The smuggled drug usually reaches Chhattisgarh from Malkangiri via Boipariguda, Kundura, Jeypore, Borigumma and Kotpad. Sometimes the ganja smugglers carry the contraband in containers and sealed tins to give the police a slip.

According to estimates, ganja worth of Rs 5 crore is smuggled through this route every month and more than five dozen local youths are directly or indirectly involved in it. The variety of "grass" in high demand is "Silajit" that costs more than Rs 3,000 a kg in the market.

A special task force has been formed under the direct supervision of Koraput police superintendent Kanwar Vishal Singh to check the ganja trade.

"Our raids on illegal ganja smuggling will be intensified as this trade is directly linked to increasing crime in the district. Also, we have arrested over 100 people involved in various crimes in the district in the past few days," Singh said.