Bengaluru (Karnataka): The Bengaluru city police department has stepped up the war on drugs, as it has busted multiple rackets in the recent past, with marijuana emerging as the most peddled and seized drug in the city in the first six months of 2020.
The city police is taking strict action against drug peddlers and consumers alike, in its bid to make Bengaluru free from drugs. After busting the Sandalwood drug racket, the police have stepped into the field to nab even more drug dealers and consumers.
The police have also reportedly collected information about drug dealing in the city's VIP circles, and has planned to make further busts.
To bust the drug mafia in the city, the police have been using the assistance of sniffer dogs at bus stops, railway stations, and other public places in the city.
According to sources, the number of such reported drug cases in the city has seen a steep rise:
- 2018: 286 Cases
- 2019: 730 Cases
- 2020: 1,540 Cases
Meanwhile, the number of foreign drug peddlers arrested in Bengaluru:
- 2018: 60 accused arrested
- 2019: 49 accused arrested
- 2020: 48 accused arrested
Read: Bengaluru CCB police continue the investigation on drugs: Two foreigners arrested
According to the police sources, the drug related cases registered in the different divisions are:
- West Division: 41.75kg cannabis, 600 gm affume, 90 gm brown sugar seized. Total 54 peddlers arrested.
- Northeast Division: 45 kg cannabis, 300 gm affume seized. Total 15 peddlers arrested.
- South Division: 99 kg cannabis, 22 gm cocaine, 15 gm MDMA seized. Total 33 peddlers arrested.
- North Division: 17.8 kg cannabis, 600 ml ganja oil seized. Total 33 peddlers arrested.
- Eastern Division: 18 kg cannabis, 800 ml ganja oil seized. 38 peddlers arrested.
- Southeast Division: 400 kg cannabis seized, and 44 peddlers arrested.
According to sources, the Bengaluru Police have arrested nearly 280 drug peddlers and found as many as 1,477 consumers in the city.
The Bengaluru Police suspect that the drug addictors mainly exist in three groups - those belonging to the slums who are addicted to cheap alternatives to drugs like cycle tube gum, those from the middle-class addicted to cannabis, and finally the rich who are addicted to drugs like cocaine, brown sugar, and affumes.
Read: Sandalwood drug case: Actors Akul, Santhosh and ex-MLA's son summoned
