BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on demonetising `500 and `1000 notes is probably the biggest raid ever conducted in the country. It did what law enforcement agencies have been struggling to do for years, with many unlawful businesses such as betting, drug trade and prostitution taking a hit.
Officials from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) said they have been keeping an eye on brothels and found that in the last two days their business had almost stopped. According to these officials, the city has around 580 ‘active’ brothels. “We keep a tab on the calls made to and from such centres,’’ an officer said.
Interestingly, police officials even carried out friendly conversations with pimps on Wednesday and Thursday. They posed as customers and called pimps over the phone to know how their business was doing. “They said the services are closed for a few days. Some of them, however, disconnected the calls saying it was a wrong number,’’ an officer said.
The demonetisation even affected the drug market, to the extent that it was almost shut. This is because the drug sellers only accept cash. “We usually do patrolling at particular places where drugs are sold and track them. But for the last two days we found that it had stopped,’’ an officer said.
The impact was also felt at places like National Market, Sukh Sagar Mall and SN Bazaar where people buy gadgets at lower prices. Pradeep Jain, a shop owner, told Express, “We have had no business since people are struggling to get money from ATMs. Some people came with `1,000 and `500 and we refused to accept them.”