Excise to step up raids on labour camps

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Excise special squads have started intensifying raids at migrant labour camps in the district to keep a check on ganja and tobacco abuse. The department has decided to strengthen surveillance following a big seizure of 12 kilograms of ganja from one such camp at Pulinkudy near Vizhinjam on Friday.

According to the Excise, there was a considerable increase in drug abuse among migrant labourers in the district along with extensive abuse of tobacco products. Speaking to Express, Divisional Deputy Excise Commissioner K Chandrapalan told Express a special shadow team has been formed to rein in the widespread supply of ganja and tobacco products in the labour camps. He said the squads at various divisions in the district are seizing large quantities of tobacco products on a daily basis.

“Supply of ganja and banned tobacco products is rampant in the camps. We seized 200 kilograms of tobacco products from a train a day ago. Similarly, two days ago, nearly five kilograms of tobacco products were confiscated from a camp near Kazhakoottam. This is a dangerous trend.

Hence, we have intensified our inspection and more raids will take place in the coming days,” Chandrapalan said. Earlier, the Excise had initiated a drive named ‘Operation Bhai’ targeting migrant workers involved in smuggling banned tobacco substances and ganja. However, the drive later lost its fizz due to the dearth of manpower. The divisional commissioner said there is shortage of personnel in the squads and this made their job more difficult.