Kannur cops use peddlers to track children taking drugs

Kannur: In a first of its initiative of the government, the Kannur police is utilising the information on substance abuse among the children from the drug peddlers they caught in the recent years.

Based on the information provided by the ‘suppliers’, they approach the families of the kids, who were lured by these peddlers and got addicted. Cops say, more and more parents have come forward seeking help to rescue them.

The initiative, launched a few weeks ago, has received a good response, says Thalassery DySP Prince Abraham. Instead of giving open classes to a mass of people, the officials believe the awareness should be target-specific, and the best method is to interact directly with them.

Already a special team has been constituted under the district police chief called District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force (DANSAF), to curb the flow of drugs into the district. Narcotics cell DySP V.N. Viswanathan is in charge of the cell that monitors the sale and use of drugs. However, Mr Viswanathan believes that the identification processes should be completed along with the investigation.

“A delay in tracking the links will spoil the whole effort. All the delivering points can be traced out immediately after the accused is arrested. This might include schoolchildren, who need immediate attention. Once the delivery points are tracked, the mission is half done,” he added.

Directions have been passed to all the police stations to find the leading links in their area, and the DANSAF will coordinate this.

Their present activity, as well as the past links, would be probed, leading to the users, especially children, who needs immediate care.