Concerned over sharp increase in the annual financial collection of the CPI(Maoist), the Union home ministry has asked the states to crack down heavily on the Naxal outfit’s financial resources. According to a note circulated by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) at the recently-concluded DG/IG conference, bulk of the increase was on account of increased smuggling in poppy or opium and ganja or cannabis.
Sources said though the Maoists were known to be involved in smuggling of these banned substances, recent reports and even satellite images available with the agencies reveal that there has been a massive increase in cultivation of poppy and cannabis in Naxal-dominated areas.
While states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal are the worst affected the problem is now spreading to Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The home ministry has also asked one of its agencies, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), to assist the state governments in tackling the menace. “We knew Maoists were raising funds through smuggling of poppy and cannabis but did not realise that there was such a sharp increase in money being collected this way,” a senior intelligence official said.
Though there are no clear figures on the annual collection of the CPI(Maoist) but security experts feel that this could be in the range of `1,000 crores. Bulk of the money is going into buying weapons even from China. But recently, sources added, Maoists had started spending a lot of money on hiring good lawyers to fight court cases against their jailed associates. Following intelligence inputs that corporates too had substantially hiked their protection money to the Naxals the ministry has asked the states to strengthen vigil on such companies.