HYDERABAD: Series of drug busts in Hyderabad including the raid at a pub in Radisson Blu hotel in the wee hours of Sunday, has once again brought into focus the need for a much-talked-about dedicated enforcement wing proposed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao during a high-level meeting in January 2022, to curb the drug menace in the State.
In the meeting, the CM had instructed the Police Department to start the new wing in coordination with the Excise department and other stakeholders, but it did not take shape. Meanwhile, in February, the city police launched the Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (H- NEW) to crackdown on the drug issue from the source to the destination. Since its inception, the H-NEW has detected around 20 cases involving various types of drugs and have arrested over 100 people.
Senior police officials in the know of the developments told Express that preparations are underway for the new wing to start operations and it might take a few more days for it to take a proper shape.
“Though the dedicated wing might take time to start off, special teams are working at commissionerate and district levels and cracking down on drugs on a regular basis. The efforts have been showing results as it is evident from the number of cases registered, persons arrested and the drugs seized,” they added.
After the high-level meeting in January, a proposal to appoint IPS officers to head the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) and the Excise department which are now headed by IAS officers also came up but nothing much happened in this regard. The move was aimed at strengthening the Excise Department and in view of the war on the menace of drug trafficking and abuse.