17 drug peddlers, including eight foreign nationals, arrested in a month

Greater Chennai Police arrests 17 drug peddlers, seizes heroin, methamphetamine, and ganja, coordinating with local police to curb drug trafficking.

The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) arrested a network of drug peddlers, including seven Nigerians, one Sudanese national, two men from Bengaluru and seven persons from Tamil Nadu, in the last month.

Addressing reporters in Egmore on Thursday, Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP), East, P. Vijay Kumar said since last August, the Anti-Narcotic Intelligence Unit (ANIU) had been working to curb drug peddling and coordinating with the local police to arrest peddlers. Two different cases were booked at the Anna Salai and Triplicane Police stations on March 9 and April 3. Following the arrest of a few local suspects in connection with these cases, the police investigated further and arrested a total of 17 persons.

Mr. Vijay Kumar said 2 g of heroin, 37.5 g of methamphetamine, 5.3 g of OG ganja, MDMA tablets, and four laptops were seized from them. Explaining the steps taken by the ANIU since last August, he said as many as 996 drug peddling cases, including ganja peddling, were booked in the last eight months, and 2,900 peddlers were arrested. A total of 1,128 kg of ganja and 21 kg of methamphetamine were seized from them.

City Police Commission A. Arun has written to the competent authority to ban Grindr since peddlers were coordinating on the platform, he said.