The Excise Department stumbled upon three cases of ganja chocolates in under a week, indicating that it could just be the tip of the iceberg.
Packets of ganja chocolate seized by the Excise Department. (Supplied)
A new variety of “chocolate” with a special ingredient flooding Telangana is keeping the Prohibition and Excise Department on its toes.
The ingredient, however, is not new and has been illegally peddled in the state, and it has many takers.
What baffled the authorities was the packaging. Packed in attractive wraps, the cannabis-laced chocolates look as innocuous as their legal counterparts.
The Prohibition and Excise Department stumbled upon three cases of ganja chocolates in the previous week alone, indicating that it might just be the tip of the iceberg. Four people were arrested in these cases.
“The accused are transporting the contraband through various means, even over online platforms. We are surprised by the packaging as it looks exactly like chocolate and nobody will feel suspicious,” Amagoni Chandraiah, Assistant Commissioner (Enforcement) of Prohibition and Excise in the Ranga Reddy district told South First.
The officer had a word of caution for parents. “The parents and the common public should be cautious,” he said.
On 23 January, the department seized 2.7 kg of the drug-laced chocolate from two men, identified as C Mukush and Gupta Mannu at Hafeezpet, Serilingampally. The duo told the officials that they had procured the “chocolates” online and sold them for ₹10 apiece.
The accused originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh.
In the second incident, the department searched an unnamed corner shop at Ramanthapur in Uppal and seized 176 packets of ganja chocolates weighing 35.2 kg. Phiroj Jena Ravi, a man from Odisha’s Balasore district residing in Medchal, was arrested.
He, too, was selling the contraband for ₹10 per piece.
The department searched a construction site of a prominent real estate developer in Kokapet, and found 18 packets weighing 3.6 kg in the possession of Somyaranjan Mallick, also from Odisha. Each packet contained 40 ganja chocolates.
News reports said the ganga-filled chocolates originated from Balasore in Odisha, Each 5 grams of chocolate contained 14 percent hemp-leaf extract.
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