DTNEXT IMPACT - Crack down: Cops firm on destroying ‘ganja capital’

A special team was formed, excluding a few officials from the local police, and the raid began on Thursday night itself. The team reportedly picked up several regular ganja peddlers, but are yet to make any seizure of the contraband. 

“Give us one week and we will wipe off the trade from TP Chatram. The raid is still on,” Kilpauk assistant commissioner Siva Bhaskar told DTNext. 

The police are also trying to identify the main perpetrators who smuggle in ganja from Andhra Pradesh and supply them in bulk to the wholesale agents in TP Chatram. The supply also comes from gangs based in Kallar and Chennai Central station areas. “We had managed to cut down ganja trade in TP Chatram. However, now we have relaunched the searches following reports regarding flourishing trade in this area,” another police officer said. 

The police also said that there is one main agent and two sub agents and three processing units that process the smuggled in ganja and pack them in smaller packets. The police is trying to locate these centres and are keeping policemen suspected of having close links with the ganja mafia out of the raid. 

Another police officer claimed that a woman was the leader of the gang and she has two sub agents. “T P Chatram is the zone where several hundreds of kilograms of ganja is processed and supplied in bulk to smaller peddlers across the city. The usage has gone up considerably as smoking weed is once again catching up as a habit among youngsters,” an officer added.