Women officers help bust drug rackets

Involvement of a number of women in inter-district drug trafficking revealed

The increased presence of women civil excise officers in enforcement squads has helped the Excise Department expose the secret network of a number of women suspected of having involvement in inter-district drug trafficking activities. Within the past three months alone, special squads comprising women officers arrested eight women who were working as carriers for wholesale agents. “We now have 20 women civil excise officers to assist district-level and range-level enforcement activities in cracking the secret network of drug peddlers. They are doing an excellent job in information gathering and other field-level activities with a focus on exposing women engaged in suspected narcotic deals,” said K. Jayapalan, Deputy Excise Commissioner, Kozhikode. He also said the department would get the full-time support of 15 more such women officers soon on completion of their ongoing training.

Officials with range-level squads said the entry of women officers helped them crack a number of odd incidents in which women drug carriers used the fake “family label and professional identity” to hoodwink the public and enforcement squads. There were many women carriers who colluded with their male counterparts and travelled like a family to carry out the business, they said.

In the wake of noticing a spike in drug trafficking attempts after the lifting of lockdown regulations, the department reconstituted its range-level squads in the city and rural areas. Many of the commercial apartments and flats suspected of offering shelter to drug carriers were brought under 24x7 surveillance. An officer heading one of the range-level squads said the Call Detail Records (CDR) of the arrested and those established contact with them for drug trafficking were available with the Department’s Crime Branch. He also said the call data analysis had helped them crack major drug trafficking cases and decode the hidden tie-up of many suspects with inter-State drug smugglers.