Amravati: The state administration is preparing to crack down on the cannabis mafia. The Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) is prepared to investigate traffickers based in other states who are attempting to smuggle cannabis into Andhra Pradesh state. SEB has demolished nearly 8,000 acres of cannabis production along the Andhra-Odisha border in the name of "Operation Transformation" (AOB). It has now begun a special operation to target cross-border smuggling. As a result, it created a list of interstate marijuana traffickers. In collaboration with other states, SEB started the operation. For this mission, the critical step is forming a Joint Task Force to oversee it.

There are 648 interstate smugglers.

SEB has identified 648 interstate smugglers who are involved in cannabis trafficking. They've been organising cannabis smuggling for decades in the Visakhapatnam and East Godavari regions. Cannabis is grown by a small group of tribes, dried after harvest, purchased, and shipped to other states throughout the year. Governments in the past have targeted cannabis smugglers on rare occasions, but not smugglers in other states.

The YSSRCP government is preparing for their first interstate operation for the first time. SEB officials have already discussed many steps with the police authorities in the states where the inter-state traffickers are based, and a combined operation has been devised. In partnership with the SEB, 50 interstate traffickers have already been apprehended. State officials travelled to those states, arrested 30 people, and brought them to the region. Telangana police have handed over 15 people to Andhra Pradesh state as well.

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Two criminals were handed over to Kerala, two to Karnataka and one to Tamil Nadu. SEB is forming a "Joint Task Force" to apprehend the remaining traffickers. The DGP chairs the nodal agency, which includes the Seb Commissioner and DIGs. The Executive Task Force, which will be led by the SEB Director, will include the SPs of the selected districts as well as additional SPs. This Joint Task Force supervises the arrest and sentencing of interstate traffickers in court, often in collaboration with police personnel from neighbouring states.

While the state has handed over 20 people, some smugglers from our state are doing illicit booze and other crimes in other states. SEBI personnel are arresting them and handing them over to the police of those states, according to the list provided by the states. Twenty have already been turned over to other states.