BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths raided and searched five upscale pubs in the city late on Saturday night, following information that drugs were being regularly being supplied in those pubs.
Police said that the searches were conducted based on information provided by some of the accused in the Sandalwood drugs case. “They had taken the names of these five pubs particularly and revealed that drugs were available regularly at these places. Following the information, search warrants were obtained from the court and the pubs were raided,” an official said.
Five teams were formed and they raided the pubs, most of them located in the Central Business District (CBD), after 11 pm. “Though it was the weekend, there was not much of a crowd. We conducted the search and returned as no contraband was found. The managements of these establishments have been warned of stern action if drugs were supplied on their premises,” the official added.
Incidentally, pubs have only recently been reopened, even as they are struggling to reclaim their lost business. Sources said that although the latest information about drugs being sold in some high-end pubs was given out now, it was likely that this was happening even before the Covid-19 lockdown.
This as well as the exposure of drug rackets in the public domain, may have alerted perpetrators to keep away from these locations for the time being, said an officer while explaining why no contraband was found during the raids. The police refrained from naming the pubs raided.