Expressing concern over the increasing menace of drug and narcotics trafficking in the state, Home Minister R Ashok has warned to invoke the Goonda Act against the drug mafia.
In reply to a debate on a call attention motion moved by the JD(S) floor leader in the Karnataka Legislative Council M C Nanaiah, on the menace of sale of narcotics drugs and other banned substances around educational institutions, Ashok said that the state government has formed a separate cell to bust drug peddling in the CID wing. Nanaiah alleged that the state government has abdicated its responsibility by not taking stringent measures to bring the drug traffickers to books.
Ashok said that drugs are being smuggled from countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan. According to Ashok, the state police have nabbed as many as 1,588 people in the last four years and registered 985 cases against the drug peddlers.
He said that separate police stations have been sanctioned exclusively to deal with drug trafficking in Belgaum and Mangalore. “There is also plans to open more such units in Mysore, Gulbarga and other big towns,” he said. Expressing sorrow over the incident of a PUC student and victim of drugs committing suicide in Mangalore, Ashok said he has plans to convene a high-level meeting shortly to take stringent measures to curb drug menace.