Special forces take action against drug dealers in Kozhikode

The police and Customs Department have put a number of newly identified drug locations in Kozhikode district under surveillance as part of their crackdown on drug dealers ahead of the Onam season. Officials coordinating the special operation said several seizures have already been made with the help of informants and plainclothes police officers on the ground.

Flash test

Speed ​​checks of vehicles are currently being carried out on important sections of national and state roads.

District borders and country roads connected to the motorways are the focus of drug investigations.

“Following Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's recent appeal during his address to the Kerala State Police Officers' Congress to step up action against drug trafficking, more preventive measures are being considered. All local police stations now have lists of repeat offenders for follow-up action,” said a senior police official, adding that the police's high-tech cell is tracking the movements of all suspects.

Members of the District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force said that all those arrested recently for drug trafficking were part of the interstate network of drug dealers who dealt in huge quantities of smuggled synthetic drugs and specifically lured students and youth. It was only after several months of investigation that six of the main suspects were arrested, they said.

In the city of Kozhikode alone, the list initially compiled by the police included around 25 drug hotspots, which was later expanded to include further hotspots.

Mobile unit wanted

Customs sources also called for deployment of a state-level mobile intervention unit supported by operational forces and opening of district-level control rooms to step up the crackdown. Joint raids with the support of state railway police, anti-narcotics squad and forest teams would be carried out at certain locations, they said.