more-in While Kerala has been figuring prominently on the drug radar over the years, the volume of money involved in the booming business in the State is unlike anything seen in its history. So much cash is pouring into the wholesale and retail sectors of the trade that the State Excise Department alone seized narcotics worth ?700 crore over the past two years. As per official statistics, the seizure of hasish oil and MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy) has surged while the consumption of heroin, brown sugar and drugs tab is rising. Ganja, on the other hand, is pouring through the State borders at a record clip. “The State has never been so high on drugs. It is not only causing a public health crisis here, but the State is also being used as a hub of drug trafficking to different countries across the continent,” said Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh. According to him, the trend did not begin on a specific day and has been developing over several years. “But by the last couple of years, the State became a hub of drug abuse,” he added. The volume of drugs being pushed to the State is hard to fathom, even for anti-narcotic agencies. For instance, the sleuths have so far seized 2,548.547 kg of ganja since January 2017 while the volume of hasish oil stood at 62.307 kg. As many as 31.239 kg of MDMA, a synthetic drug priced at ?65,000 per gram, was seized in different cases across the State during the same period. “The seizure of 4.5 kg of ecstasy and the latest episode in Kochi, reiterates our feeling that the State has become a transit hub of international drug trafficking,” said Mr. Singh. Earlier, various Central agencies had raised similar concerns after back-to-back seizures from the international airport in Kochi. “International cartels may be eyeing tier-two destinations like Kochi as the transit point in view of heightened monitoring at metro airports,” said a senior Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official. De-addiction centre Taking into consideration the drug culture taking root in the State, the Excise Department has opened a de-addiction centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The Department is also slated to open similar centres in Kochi and Kozhikode by this month.

Stay updated with all the Latest Kochi headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.