THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram city police have enhanced surveillance on 790 people who have criminal antecedents and are prone to committing the offences again, within its limits.
The police painstakingly collected the details of the offenders in a bid to pre-empt regrouping of criminal gangs, which can pose a threat to law and order situation. Highly placed sources said these men on their radar were being monitored on a day-to-day basis and because of that organised crimes have come down in the city limits.
Those people under watch include Om Prakash and Airport Dany, who had clashed during a DJ party that was organised by the latter in a city bar last week.
As per police records, most number of criminals were found residing or operating in Nemom, Thiruvallam, Valiyathura, Kazhakootam and Thumba police station limits.
Owing to minor incidents involving criminals that were reported recently and also taking into consideration Christmas and New Year celebrations that are round the corner, the police will verify the whereabouts and activities of all the men by putting under its radar, said a police official.
“We used to personally verify 100 persons in that list daily. Either they were summoned to the stations or the cops went to them and checked what they were up to. Their digital signatures were examined to ascertain their movements. Now, we are checking all the 790 people every single day,” the officer said.
The police felt the move has been successful so far and no gangland killings took place within the city limits in the last four months. “The last gang-related murder took place in August first week within Sreekaryam police station limits. Thereafter the city has been silent and that’s because of the heightened vigil we maintain,” said a senior officer of the city police.
The cops claimed sustained policing has broken the back of organised crime syndicates, and only their remnants exist now. “Earlier there were several gangs led by seasoned criminals. Now they have all disintegrated due to the efforts of the police. Only the remnants of some groups exist and we will soon clear that menace too,” said another officer.
Other police sources, meanwhile, said the involvement of goons in drug peddling has emerged as a new threat. “Forget about the gang wars, because the gangs are close to non-existent. Because of that the apprehension of a turf war emerging between them is misplaced. What is frightening is the involvement of some of the gangsters in drug business,” an officer privy to the activities of the criminals said.
According to the officer, there have been instances where some of the gangsters were found engaged in selling synthetic drugs, including MDMA, to earn quick bucks.
“A gangster, who conducts DJ parties in the city, arrives with an entourage of 10-15 people, who peddle MDMA to the participants. Some other goons are following suit. This worrying trend ought to be arrested,” the officer added.
Prakash too is accused of having antecedents in drug-peddling and was arrested by Kochi police in October for possessing cocaine. However, the police are now banking on freshly-arrived drug detection kits to fight the menace of drug abuse. The cops have been using the kits since November last to detect the presence of drugs by testing the saliva. A city police official said they are able to check up to 15 people regularly and the action was found to have a good deterrence effect.
“In places like Manaveeyam Street, we are testing people regularly. Because of the fear of getting caught, the drug abusers are reluctant to appear in such places,” the official added.