Last week, excise officials nabbed a 29-year-old from Aluva found in possession of 14 gm of premium variant of brown sugar.
He reportedly confessed to have procured it from Sealdah in West Bengal for delivery against an advance order for adding zip to an impending New Year party in the city. .
This, though, was not an accidental catch but triggered by the arrest of another peddler from Jalangi, also in West Bengal, with 7 gm of similar variant of brown sugar from near the Kochi airport a month back.
More than study tours
As Christmas and New Year draw near, enforcement agencies gear up for an increased flow of drugs , to Kochi and its suburbs. Adding to the already vulnerable situation are the challenges posed by tours organised by educational institutions, which usually fall in the month of December. “Though dubbed as study tours, these tours to destinations such as Goa, known for New Year revelries, have hardly got anything to do with studies. Alcohol and, not rarely, drugs, flow during these trips with the few accompanying faculty members having little control over them,” said a senior excise officer.
Earlier this month, excise officials received information that six buses carrying college students have set out for Goa and by the time the vehicles were intercepted at Angamaly, the rear of these vehicles was already akin to bars with many drunk students.
“We check the vehicles returning from places such as Goa from where psychotropic drugs are largely smuggled in,” said A.S. Ranjith, Deputy Excise Commissioner, Ernakulam.
Cases on the rise
The number of cases registered by the excise under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act during the three month-period from November has increased from 98 in 2015-16 to 117, 243, and 247 in the successive financial years, reflecting the increased flow of drugs during the festive season.
The seizure of ganja, which dominates the chart of popular drugs, has fluctuated from 22.04 kg to 11.53 kg before jumping to 56.70 kg the year after and dropping to 35.49 kg in 2018-19.
The Kochi City police have, however, changed their enforcement strategy. “We are now focussing on seizure of bigger volumes and targeting those higher up the chain instead of mere peddlars with the aim of demolishing entire drug networks,” said Inspector General and District Police Chief (Kochi City) Vijay Sakhare.
Ganja hauls
While just 8.13 kg of ganja was seized during the three month-period from November in 2018-19 despite registering 745 NDPS cases, 20.50 kg was seized in just 158 cases till mid-December during the ongoing fiscal.
This is also the time guidelines are flouted to maximise profits. Recently, excise officials initiated measures to cancel the bar licence of a five-star hotel in Kochi after an inspection found that the last bill was timed way beyond the closure time of 11 p.m.
While Kochi is regarded as the hub of rave parties as part of New Year revelries, statistics hardly substantiate it. While Mr. Sakhare said there was a mismatch between perception and reality, excise officials attributed it to hiccups in enforcement.
“From multiple access points controlled by biometrics to surveillance cameras, there are enough warnings for substance abusers attending such parties in premium hotels to hide the drugs. Also, the ones attending those parties are often influential people who get easily offended by body checks,” Mr. Ranjith said.
Hoteliers deny charges
G. Gopinathan, president of the Association of Approved and Classified Hotels of Kerala, however, shot down allegations of rave parties claiming that they never encouraged use of drugs in their premises. “We issue strict directions to our managers to keep an eye on the use of drugs,” he said.
The flow of youngsters from Kochi to Goa for attending New Year rave parties is reportedly on the rise while some prefer to stay back in hostels keeping enforcement agencies on their toes.
“Two years back we fleetingly toyed with the idea of sneaking into one of those parties while taking an accused to Goa to collect first-hand information but eventually dropped that idea after he warned us that uninvited suspicious guests ran the risk of getting assaulted. We met many youngsters from the city there at that time and the number could have only increased now,” said N.D. Tomy, a civil excise officer, felicitated for exemplary enforcement work.
Illegal homestays, especially in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry, have been cited as potential hubs of drug abuse during revelries. Though officially there are only 60 classified homestays in Fort Kochi, the actual number may come to 250.
“Classified homestays run by families never host rave parties while the ones whose classification has either expired or was transferred to third parties may host them,” said M.P. Sivadattan, Director, Kerala Homestay and Tourism Society.
G.P. Manuraj, Station House Officer, Fort Kochi, said the police could hardly take cognizance of illegal homestays and it was for the civic body to act in such cases. “But plainclothesmen keep an eye on all homestays and carry out surprise checks,” he said. However, the force, with a staff pattern of the 1980s, are invariably stretched during the New Year.
The police could be further challenged if parties are held aboard boats as happened a few years ago when drugs were seized from a luxury vessel in the Kochi backwaters. “Two of our boats are in disrepair and only one boat is available for patrolling ,” said a coastal police official.
One-day permits
Excise is also monitoring the applications for one-day permits to serve alcohol during the season rejecting the dubious ones after due verification. The week after Christmas keeps the enforcement agencies in Kochi on their toes as numerous parties and the popular Cochin Carnival coincide. With the week approaching, they are keeping their fingers crossed for it to pass off peacefully.
