Koraput: Police have arrested 47 persons, including two constables and 11 ganja peddlers, and seized 20 vehicles carrying at least 5,472kg of contraband in the past six months.

On July 18, Lakshmipur police station inspector-in-charge Jagannath Acharya was suspended from service for helping a ganja peddler to escape from police custody.

"The flourishing ganja trade in the district is directly linked to crime as the local unemployed youths are being hired by the ganja mafia as informers. They guard the ganja-loaded vehicles to reach a specific spot and get a huge money against it," said Koraput police superintendent Kanwar Vishal Singh.

Even though the involvement of policemen in the ganja trade has embarrassed the department, Singh said: "We have launched our fight against the ganja trade. Whoever is involved in it will be dealt firmly."

"Involvement of more policemen in the trade may not be ruled out. But, anyone found involved in the illegal trade will be taken to task," he said.

The district police have formed a special task force, which is led by a DSP rank officer to contain the ganja business.

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

"The original traders never come to the picture. They receive orders from their counterparts residing outside the state. The mafia send their men with money and vehicles to a particular point, where ganja is cultivated, to lift the banned drug," said DSP T.J.R Reddy, who leads the task force against ganja trade in the district.

The wild grass, illegally cultivated in the hills and forests in Lamataput, Machkund and Nandapur areas of the district, is smuggled to states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Admitting that the action against the ganja trade is just tip of the iceberg, Singh said the operation would continue till it was not completely wiped out.

"Also, the villagers are being urged not to take up ganja cultivation through seminars and workshops," he said.