Courier companies must get no-drug declaration, instructs Coimbatore police

COIMBATORE:  In the wake of the recent seizure of ganja-laced chocolates in Coimbatore, police directed private courier services to get a declaration from customers before accepting parcels in order to confirm there are no narcotics or ganja.

“We have already advised parcel service firms to seek declaration about what kind of goods they are sending in the parcel. But it is not followed in a strict manner. We have once again told them to collect the details and maintain record,” said police superintendent V Badrinarayanan.

Further, while receiving parcels from other states, the firms have been told to collect basic information like the details of the sender and the type of the parcel. If there was any issue, we could trace the source by the backtrace, the SP added,

“Around 310 kg of ganja-laced chocolates were seized in the last two months and we are tracing the sources.” Badrinarayanan added. The sale and use of ganja have come down over the six months due to police crackdowns. While the police claim that all the ganja sellers and their networks were under their radar, the sale of ganja chocolates is increasing.

According to police, migrant workers bring the contraband from their native village and also receive it through courier services. The chocolates are manufactured and brought mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Earlier it was transported by train. But after railway police intensified their frisking, they switched over to courier services.  

250 ganja-free villages
“As many as 250 villages in the district have declared themselves as ganja-free villages. A maximum number of declarations is received from the Anaimalai area in the Valparai sub-division, the SP added.