Chennai, March 31 (BPNS)
The Tamil Nadu police which is on raids across the state against the drug menace has arrested more than 350 people in connection with the peddling of drugs including Ganja and other synthetic drugs including MDMA and other narcotic substances. The state police have also alerted the Marine coastal police and the Indian Coast guard after intelligence agencies had given tips of drugs being smuggled into the country and certain coastal towns of the state turning into embarking points of drugs.
A senior police officer of the Tamil Nadu police who is monitoring the drug trial said that there are several pockets in the state which are used as transport points and in many cases, youngsters are picked up as carriers. Speaking to the BPNS, the senior officer said,” The state police is in a major crackdown and have already arrested 350 people who are part of the drug syndicate including peddlers and in some cases major operators. We are also getting inputs on some coastal towns of the state being used as a hub for international drug racketeers and hence a major crackdown is enforced.”
It may be noted that in December 2021, the Tamil Nadu police had arrested a few former cadres of the LTTE for having smuggled drugs into the state through the sea for raising funds for the activities of the organization. Police are however tight-lipped on the presence of such network being used for the drug transport.
The drug crackdown commenced after the Central agencies and intelligence agencies both, Central and state received tip-offs of the drug syndicates becoming active in the state, and the state DGP, C. Sylendra Babu ordered a crackdown.
It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu Narcotics wing had conducted raids at certain hideouts in Coimbatore for a couple of days with the support of the state police and arrested hundred people around the city and outside.
Interestingly, police said that the drug syndicate is using the service of technical persons and social media is being used as a major tool for the movement of the drugs within the state. Several techies are part of the drug syndicate in the metro towns of Tamil Nadu and the police team, according to a senior officer in the rank of ADGP who is leading the operation, has zeroed in on the network of techies involved in coordinating the drug movement.
Tamil Nadu DGP, C. Sylendra Babu who is monitoring the progress of the crackdown has informed the team not to use local police for the operation in the fear that some key persons would escape the net.
The state marine police and coastal police are also monitoring the movement of vessels including fishing boats as the possibility of drug movement from Sri Lanka to the shores of Tamil Nadu is high.
