Cases registered for seizure of drugs for personal consumption soars in Ernakulam rural area

Almost half the cases registered by the Ernakulam Rural police were for the seizures of drugs found in possession for personal consumption.

In a disturbing trend, almost half the cases registered by the Ernakulam Rural police under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act during the first quarter of 2023 were for the seizures of drugs found in possession for personal consumption.

Out of the 242 cases registered by the rural police during the period across the five subdivisions, 106 fell under this category. Of the 289 persons arrested in NDPS cases, 185 were nabbed on this count.

In Aluva subdivision, the number of cases registered for seizure of drugs for personal consumption stood at 34 while it was 47 for Perumbavur subdivision, 41 for Aluva subdivision, 36 for Puthencruz subdivision and 8 in Munambam subdivision.

Also read |On the substance abuse trail in Kerala

However, rural police feel that merely going by the numbers would be missing the forest for the trees. “It can hardly be considered an indicator of personal consumption of drugs pipping the larger malice of drug peddling. It could be just that we may be detecting more cases of possession of drugs for personal consumption. Anyway, the amount of drugs being seized is just a fraction of what is being circulated,” said Vivek Kumar, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).

Rural police have three major avenues for gathering intelligence regarding the movement and consumption of drugs. Intelligence gathered by Yodhav, the anti-narcotic squad of Kerala Police, and the District Anti-Narcotic Special Action Force besides the information shared by the residents’ associations. Police also keep a tab on the accused involved in previous cases registered under NDPS Act.

“At any given time, we are verifying around 200 call data records, mostly of the history-sheeters, for potential leads. But intercepting the accused while being actually involved in the crime is often left to chance,” said Mr. Kumar.