Coimbatore Police use social media to raise awareness against drug abuse

COIMBATORE: Amid complaints of increasing drug usage among school and college students, the Narcotics Intelligence Bureau - Criminal Investigation (NIB- CID) department is focussing on raising awareness on the issue.

"We meet students and explain the problems caused by drug usage, how it affects it affects their image in society, etc. In addition, we are increasing surveillance of student-centred drug network to break the supply chain," said a police officer.

The NIB-CID has tied up with animation experts and a social media team to come up with a series of short videos and memes against drug abuse. Recently, they introduced two animation characters Tukker Pandi and DJ Rave to detail the cons of using and peddling drugs. The characters have gained traction on social media platforms.

NIB-CID superintendent Rohit Nathan Rajagopal said, "We are using social media as well as in-person approach to make students aware. Memes and animation characters make the drive effective. Stringent action has been taken on smugglers and sellers of ganja. In the last one year (between May 2021 and April 2022) there were 8716 ganja related cases registered in the state and 12,103 persons including smugglers, and sellers were arrested. Also, we alone seized around 27000 kg of ganja this year."

"Of all narcotics, ganja is easily available in urban areas. It is mostly brought from Andhra Pradesh and a few northern States and smuggled in guest workers. We are working to cut off the supply chain," he added.