Debasish Panigrahi, OP
Bhubaneswar: The back-to-back seizures of hydroponic weed from passengers at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar in the last couple of weeks’ time have raised fears of the non-metro international airport being used as a transit point for the high-valued party drug during the country’s tourist season.
On Saturday, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) confiscated 7 kg of the weed valued at Rs 7 crore from a passenger who arrived from Bangkok. Four days prior to that, January 14, the AIU had seized hydroponic weed worth Rs 4 crore which was concealed in eight cornflakes’ packets inside the check-in baggage of a woman passenger who landed from the Thai capital. On January 6, two women passengers who arrived from Kuala Lumpur were held at the BPIA for possessing the same variety of weed worth Rs 9.56 crore.
Sources privy to the investigation of the cases told Orissa POST that the people arrested in connection with the seizures are mostly carriers of the drug – meant for consumption in places like Mumbai, Delhi and Goa – while the kingpins of the syndicate remain elusive. Due to the heightened surveillance at airports in these cities, the syndicates are targeting smaller airports, like Bhubaneswar, to smuggle the contraband, sources added.
“Hydroponic weed is of great demand among tourists and partygoers during the tourist season. Bhubaneswar does not have a clientele-base for the expensive narcotics. In all probability, the BPIA is being used as a passage for the drug to its destinations in the country,” sources added. There seems to be meat in the claims as Bhubaneswar, or Odisha, has long been considered a source for homegrown bush weed (ganja, or wild hemp) which costs not more than Rs 5,000-10,000 per kg in the street, as against Rs 1 crore for the same weight of hydroponic weed.
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Sources said hydroponic weed is popular among users for its high potency as compared to bush weed, found outdoors. “The PSH value is altered in hydroponic weed which is grown in controlled environment to make it more potent than the commonly available bush weed,” sources added. Experts said that most of the hydroponic weed is cultivated in South East Asian (SEA) countries, with India as the main landing destination. “The supply we get in India of hydroponic weed mostly originates from Thailand. This is because after decriminalising cannabis in 2022 for medical purposes, that country failed to regulate the market which resulted in rampant abuse and smuggling of weed,” sources added.
PNN