THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Food delivery boys, who hitherto went unchecked, will now be scrutinised by anti-drug agencies. Soon, they will have to register with the respective Excise range offices and should also possess identity cards.
Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh on Friday said, “There was some leeway given that it was food being delivered. However, after realising what is happening, we are taking immediate steps and the registration with range offices is one among them. After doing this, the inspections will follow and the identity cards will also be checked.”
The decision came in the light of two incidents that happened in Kochi recently. In the first incident, a food delivery boy left the vehicle and ran off after throwing away a packet when he was spotted during a routine vehicle inspection by the Kochi Circle Inspector.
The packet he left behind had 500 gm ganja in it following which this new method of drug distribution was revealed. The culprit is yet to be apprehended.
Following the lead, more such inspections were done and a Perinthalmanna native named Nikesh, 27, was apprehended with 500 gm hashish from the boat jetty in Fort Kochi. He was using the mobile phone and vehicle of his friend who is registered with a food delivery company.
The search for his friend and the dealer is going on according to Kochi Excise circle inspector Sasi Kumar. The network works like a multi-level marketing company and the distributor at the lowest tier will have no information about the people who bring the drugs.
“The food delivery boys get entry everywhere and receive some consideration during the routine inspections. This could be the factor that encourages such a method which would help them evade authorities. We will also ask the companies to take action against such delivery boys and will also check if people pose as delivery boys with no relation to the companies at all,” said NS Salimkumar, central region joint excise commissioner.