more-in Officials of Prohibition and Excise Department have destroyed nearly 38,809 kgs of dry ganja that was seized during various raids from smugglers, here on Tuesday. The destroyed weed is worth around ? 38 crore and it was burnt in Kalyanapulova area on the city outskirts. Till now this is said to be the biggest quantity of ganja destruction programme in the district. Excise Minister K S Jawahar lit the fire in the presence of district officials. According to Deputy Commissioner of Prohibition & Excise Visakhapatnam SVVN Babji Rao, the destroyed crop was seized in about 430 cases booked under NDPS Act across 14 stations in Visakhapatnam district. Officials from Prohibition & Excise (Enforcement) and few other officials attended. He also said last year lakhs of saplings were destroyed in the ganja cultivation areas in the interior parts of Visakhapatnam agency. Mr. Babji also added that the Excise Department has formed exclusive taskforce teams to deal with ganja smuggling in the district. It may be recalled that earlier in January, February and March the Visakhapatnam Rural Police destroyed nearly 32,000 kgs of ganja in three occasions ( 14,000, 11,493 kgs and 7,637 kgs) which were seized under various police station limits.

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