Bengaluru: CCB police swoop down on five upmarket pubs

BENGALURU: Party animals beware. If you think you can make away with drugs in the shady corners of upscale pubs of the city, the cops might be just waiting for you there. And, if you happened to get caught with drugs, you will never get a police clearance for any future jobs! Yes. It’s official. The city police have declared a war on drugs. On Saturday night, the City Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths conducted a largest-ever raid in the history of Bengaluru.

As many as five upscale pubs in the Silicon city were raided. In a smooth operation lasting over two hours, 600 young pub goers including young boys and girls were thoroughly and scientifically checked for possession and use of drugs.

More than 50 police officers attached to the CCB including 4 assistant police commissioners (ACPs), 8 police inspectors and 40 head constables and constables descended on these pubs and conducted search operations.

“The raids were conducted on pubs in UB City and 1 MG Mall. The staff used drug kit to check customers in the pubs. Also their bags, vehicles were searched for any drugs. In total 600 pub goers were searched,” Joint Commissioner of Crime Sandeep Patil, who monitored the raids explained. Not only this, a strict warning has been issued to pub owners not to allow drugs on its premises. The raids were conducted based on the specific inputs the police got from sources that pub goers regarding the use of substances in the premises.

“There was a lot of information of drugs being used in upscale pubs. So teams were formed to visit them. We had proper search warrants in place. Women staffers were used to search young girls and everything was done legally,” Sandeep Patil explained.

However, no drug was found in possession at the end of the exercise. But, it came as a shock to the pub goers. “Next week we will conduct search operations in areas of Koramangala and Indiranagar. Likewise, every weekend CCB will conduct raids across the city based on inputs,” he underlined. The exercise is aimed at ensuring that no pub owner dares to allow drugs into his premises. Pub owners will be held responsible henceforth if drugs are found.

Sandeep Patil said the war on drugs will be fought at many levels. Initially, drug peddlers will be booked and then places where drugs are used will be raided. In the next step, we will be focusing on campuses of schools and colleges, he said. Immediately, after taking over as Commissioner of Police of Bengaluru, Bhaskar Rao had announced that the city police will wage a war on drug mafia. Raids are conducted specifically to check drug addiction and the distribution network in the city.  In yet another case, CCB police have seized two kilograms of ganja after arresting Bommanahalli resident Jagan. The preliminary investigation revealed that the ganja was to be distributed to the students, techies and youth.

When asked whether raids is a violation of rights of pub goers, the cops say that there will be no violation as everything is done legally. Police said pub goers will have to cooperate with them no matter what their concern was.