Strengthening the crackdown on drug trafficking, the police have started zeroing in on the kingpins behind a series of recently exposed synthetic drug trafficking cases in Kozhikode district where they reportedly maintained a discreet network of local drug pushers and carriers to remotely control the trade. Sources with the anti-narcotics squad say they have reasons to suspect the involvement of more foreign nationals in some of the recent incidents.
Inter-State coordination between police forces has helped the ant-narcotics squad here make headway in identifying smugglers’ networks and their modus operandi. Station House Officers are now in the process of revisiting major drug trafficking cases within their limits to check the possibility of identifying their real source.
“Whatever be the quantity of the seized synthetic drug, the police will take it up seriously for follow-up investigations based on the latest instructions from higher-ups. The arrest of three foreigners in a local drug trafficking case recently registered at Kunnamangalam police station is a case in point,” said a senior police officer associated with the investigation of major synthetic drug smuggling cases in Kozhikode city.
A Sub Inspector with the anti-narcotics squad said the suspected involvement of some of the foreign students pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in other States would be a major area of attention in the ongoing investigation. He said the Call Detail Records and the bank accounts managed by such suspected persons had already been gathered by various enforcement agencies.
A senior officer with the District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force said the Call Detail Records of the previously arrested local drug pushers and carriers had already helped the local police zero in on more suspected persons, including foreigners. He also said the effective data analysis helped various enforcement squads track online investment frauds operated by drug traffickers from other States.
Last year, the police were able to arrest 1,985 suspects in various narcotic smuggling cases in Kozhikode city limits alone as per the latest figures of the District Crime Records Bureau (Kozhikode city). The total number of cases was 1,835. Police sources confirmed that follow-up investigations would be carried out into some of those cases also apart from covering the newly exposed ones under the recently held Operation D Hunt special drive.
Published – May 01, 2025 01:00 am IST