Surat: The special operations group of city police and prevention of crime branch on Sunday arrested 22 people running pan shops for selling tobacco products to minors. The accused were booked under the provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. It is a punishable offence to sell tobacco products to minors under this Act.
Police started their drive as a part of Samarth, an initiative to rehabilitate minors with criminal past. They raided pan shops in Athwa, Umra, Puna, Pandesara, Udhna, Khatodara and Adajan areas. The accused were nabbed red-handed by the police while selling tobacco products to minors. Police had even sent dummy minor buyers to some pan shops and made the arrests in presence of witnesses.
“We are conducting counselling and skill development workshops for minors who had been arrested in the past for their involvement in criminal activities. During the workshops, police found that many of them were addicted to tobacco products. Hence, we decided to start the drive to create an awareness among pan shop owners that they should not sell addictive products to minors,” city police commissioner Satish Sharma said.