The Excise Department seized narcotics substances, including 1,000 tonnes of fake tobacco products, estimated to cost ₹800 crore during 2018, said Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Singh said the number of cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act had jumped from a mere 900 to over 7,500 in four years.
“It is not without a reason that the State is ranked second in the country in terms of drug flow,” he said. Mr. Singh called for measures to check the over-the-counter (OTC) sale of prescription drugs by medical shops. Those cheap drugs give a high similar to what high-end drugs like brown sugar offer. Twenty-seven such medical shops were closed down last year, he said.
Mr. Singh said rave parties continue to be held in private properties and luxury resorts though it had come down in public places following a crackdown by the Excise and police.
The Excise Department has noticed in many recent cases that drugs being smuggled in were not for consumption in the State. “Kochi has emerged as a strategic transit point in drugs smuggling probably owing to its proximity to sea route. There seems to be a shift in smuggling of drugs from the Middle East to East Asian countries like Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam,” Mr. Singh said.
He said state-of-the-art scanning equipment would be installed at airports, including Kochi airport, by April-May following the discussions he had with the chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation about the need for curbing the movement of drugs through airports.
He cited the arrest of ‘Moorkhan’ Shaji, a major hashish oil smuggler who had evaded arrest by various agencies for 20 years, as one of the biggest achievements of the department during last year.
Mr. Singh said following his discussions with Tamil Nadu Director General of Police, an officer of the rank of Additional DGP had been deployed on the trail of Ali, the key accused in the seizure of ₹200 crore-worth MDMA from a courier company in Kochi.