Narcotics special drive extended

Thiruvananthapuram: The district excise department has registered as many as 54 NDPS cases during the narcotic special drive held from September 16 to October 5 as per the direction of the chief minister to eliminate drug peddlers who target school students.
A total of 2.88kg of ganja and 5.365 grams of MDMA were seized during the drive. As many as 52 persons were arrested and four vehicles were also seized.
A decision was taken on Thursday to extend the drive till November 1 in view of the rise in the number of cases being registered, informed assistant excise commissioner Vinod Kumar.
During the drive, the department intensified vigil at schools, business centres, lodges, hotels and checkposts. Special striking forces were also formed to conduct raids by dividing the district into two zones, north and south.
The north zone was formed by including Varkala, Attingal and Nedumangad, and the south zone was formed by including Thiruvananthapuram city areas and Neyyattinkara.
Highway patrolling teams, headed by circle inspectors and special squads, were also formed. Control rooms have also been opened at all the 18 excise offices in the district. Inspections have also been strengthened at 13 checkposts by deploying more excise officers.
Earlier, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had expressed concern that children are being targeted by the drug mafia and there is a large network operating for supplying drugs to school students.