KOCHI: Cracking down on drug traffickers just became tougher for the police. Intelligence inputs have revealed that drug trade has moved off the streets to posh residential and serviced apartments in the city as was seen in the recent MDMA seizure.
This is posing a problem for the police as they – despite knowing that criminals are using city’s residential apartments for illegal activities like get-togethers for drug consumption and trafficking – cannot raid an apartment complex unless there is a crime or they have concrete information about any illegal activity.
In fact, this is the reason the traffickers are choosing high-end residential apartments for stay, said the police.
“There are gangs that rent posh apartments to make use of the privacy they offer. Highrises in the city, a mix of upper middle and high class, have evolved as a place where supply meets demand. Apartment complexes with tight private security offer a perfect setting for drug dealers,” said an intelligence officer.
“While the police are keeping a watch by activating intelligence networks, it’s not easy to monitor apartments. We have been requesting apartment associations time and again to pass on information about flats where visitors frequent or where any unusual activities take place,” said Central ACP K Lalji. “There have been incidents where an association stayed silent as it did not want to ‘damage’ the apartment’s reputation by bringing in the police. The associations should shed this mentality and cooperate with the police. We welcome the associations to share even the tiniest of information with us,” said Lalji, adding that in many residential buildings, there are only a few owners as tenants occupy a majority of the flats.
Narcotic Cell assistant commissioner Abdul Salam said the police verify and conduct undercover checks in apartments whenever they get information about drug use or trade. “We have requested people to provide information about such illegal activity through our app “Yodhavu”. It ensures complete confidentiality of the informer,” he said. The recent incident where a drug racket was busted at an apartment in Kakkanad here confirmed that traffickers were training pet dogs to ward off uninvited visitors.
“In US and European countries, there is a special programme of the police wherein apartment associations enter into a pact with the police allowing the latter access to hallways and the building’s common areas and even verify the details of each resident or visitor. Implementing such a programme in Kochi is not practical as people will protest against it saying it’s an encroachment on their privacy,” said an officer.