Home » POLITICS, NEWS » Anti-narcotic cell yet to come into its own

Anti-narcotic cell yet to come into its own

Published on 2 days ago | See Latest Updates @ Andhra Pradesh

HYDERABAD: Thanks to the apathy of city police bosses, the recently established Anti Narcotic Cell (ANC) to cracking down on drug trafficking in Hyderabad is a non-starter.

In view of the increasing number of cocaine peddling cases, many with links to Tollywood, the ANC was set up in February 2012 as a separate wing in the Central Crime Station (CCS), Hyderabad. This is the first such specialised unit to have been set up by the state police department to go after drug cartels and investigate the cases.

But so far, the cell has miserably failed in fulfilling its purpose and their biggest seizure so far has been 1.5 kg ganja. Strangely, despite the existence of the ANC, drug-related cases are still being handled by either the law and order or Task Force teams. In a classic case of jurisdictional confusion, on January 11, ANC sleuths raided a house at Chudibazar and seized 1.5 kg ganja and 1 kg bhang. The same day, Task Force sleuths arrested four peddlers at Chilkalguda and seized 150 kg ganja.

CCS sleuths claimed that poor staffing is the main reason for the dismal performance of the ANC. As per the proposal, the ANC should have three separate wings - investigation, surveillance and technical. The ANC should have one inspector, six sub-inspectors, 10 head constables (HCs) and 30 constables (PCs). However, the Cell has one inspector, one SI, four HCs and 3 PCs. "As there is not enough staff, there is no chance of forming any specialised wings," said a source.

In fact, the Rs 20 lakh annual budget earmarked by the ministry of home affairs is not being utilised by the ANC. "The ANC should ideally have young and energetic officers with a passion to crack down on narcotics-related cases. The surveillance team should be very strong, but currently, it has none of these qualities, and until things change, the ANC will not be able to deliver," said a CCS official.

In 2012, city police booked 27 cases under the NDPS (Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act out of which 21 were related to cocaine seizure. Police arrested 60 persons, including 12 foreigners, in these cases. City police have arrested several cocaine peddlers since 2010 but so far none has been convicted. Majority of the arrested drug peddlers are out on bail and, according to CCS sources, most of the foreign peddlers who came out on bail have disappeared without a trace.

"As of now, ANC is a small unit. So, we have directed Task Force, law and order cops to continue their surveillance on drug peddlers and ANC will do long time surveillance activity wherever it is required. We are planning to strengthen the cell in due course," Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma told TOI.