Telangana cops get tough on drug peddlers

Mount surveillance on those persons involved in NDPS Act cases

Hyderabad: After cracking the whip on drug cartels operating in the State, the police are now moving a step ahead with a long term strategy to control the drug menace across Telangana by profiling and mounting surveillance on those persons involved in NDPS Act cases.

Cases under the NDPS Act are booked against persons found to be dealing directly or indirectly with drugs like marijuana, cocaine and others. Recently, higher ups in the department introduced the new Drug Offenders Profiling Analysis and Monitoring System (DOPAMS) as part of this long term strategy.

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“The IT wings of all commissionerates and district police units were trained on how to use the application and to train the local field staff on using it. It is connected to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) and all police stations are now using it to update the record of drug offenders,” a senior police official said.

Police personnel are now feeding important information on drug offenders including cases booked against them, convictions, family background, residential address and hideouts, cultivation, supply and transportation modus operandi and other details which will help the police in keeping their record and maintaining surveillance on their activities.

“Control of drug menace is one of the top priorities of the Telangana police. Now we are using technology to boost our crackdown. The DOPAMS will help the local police have access to details of drug offenders involved in cases across the State and also to identify their local contacts,” the official said, adding that the application was also helping the police higher-ups plan their enforcement operations more precisely.

The police feel that they need to consolidate the data as such a major operation was taken up for the first time in recent times across the State with hundreds of drug cartels busted and tonnes of drugs seized.

Apart from the technology, the police stations were also asked to maintain suspect sheets against those involved in drug related cases for effective monitoring at the grassroots level.

“Suspect sheets is an old practice of maintaining a record on paper of the persons involved in particular crime or offences. Apart from the online database, we are continuing with the suspect sheet practice and updating the record whenever required,” an Inspector in the Hyderabad City Police said.

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