Two months, over 300 narcotics cases reported in Ernakulam district of Kerala

The seizure of high-quality green hashish oil worth nearly Rs 2 crore and the arrest of a person in Perumbavoor has put the spotlight back on the spike in narcotics cases.
Representational image of a narcotics agent using a machete to slice open a brick of cocaine (File|AP)
Representational image of a narcotics agent using a machete to slice open a brick of cocaine (File|AP)

KOCHI: The seizure of high-quality green hashish oil worth nearly Rs 2 crore and the arrest of a person in Perumbavoor has put the spotlight back on the spike in narcotics cases. As per the figures available with the police for the first two months this year, 140 cases have been registered in Ernakulam Rural while around 200 cases have been reported in the Kochi city police limits. In 2017, the police registered 1,256 and 1,673 cases in Ernakulam Rural and Kochi city limits respectively under the NDPS Act.

Besides, the officers said, 92 cases had been registered under relevant sections of the NDPS Act in Kochi city and Ernakulam Rural within the past three weeks. In these cases, around 100 people were arrested. The Rural Police seized over 200 gm of ganja, in addition to brown sugar and hashish oil. Kochi Range IG Vijay Sakhare said stringent action would continue against drug peddling. “The police will soon launch a mobile app for the public to report drug smuggling,” he said.

Following the recovery of 117 kg of ganja at Perumbavoor four months ago, the Rural Police had launched ‘Operation Honeycomb’ to apprehend the smugglers. The arrest of Antony aka ‘Mattu Manoj’, 38, a native of Kambilikandam in Idukki was part of ‘Operation Honeycomb’. The seized drug is of high quality with one gram of the contraband costing from USD 50 to 150 in the international market.

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