Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed serious concern over provocative and inciting social media messages that were not only detrimental to public peace and order but also posed a threat to Law and Order in the State and called upon the top police officers of the southern States to work in tandem with each other in tackling the spread of rumours on social media.
Addressing the coordination conference of the DGPs of the southern States at Chennai on Saturday, Stalin said attempts were made in Tamil Nadu to disrupt public peace, but were nipped in the bud through stringent and effective action and apprehension of rumour mongers from other States, who were even detained under NSA.
Stressing on the need for coordination among the different State police to ensure the safety of the people, he said the Tamil Nadu Police, being the host of the conference, had been entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating with other states to ensure the effective implementation of inter-state cooperation across all fields of law enforcement, with a special emphasis on narcotics control, banned tobacco products enforcement, inter-state criminal gangs, and cybercrime.
‘By fostering stronger collaboration and information sharing, we can collectively address these challenges and enhance security for all our citizens, he said and added that Tamil Nadu police had made remarkable progress in tackling the challenges posed by narcotics by taking stringent steps to reduce the supply, transportation, and sale of drugs and successfully eradicating the cultivation of Ganja in the State.
Though State had adopted a two-pronged strategy by, one, confiscating property, freezing bank accounts, sealing shops, levying fines and obtaining convictions through strict enforcement for offenders and two, conducting awareness campaigns on the ills of drugs and the eradication of drug sales near educational institutions, the linkages and assets of narcotic offenders were spread over several states.
Requesting the police to work in tandem with neighbouring states to curtail the transportation of banned tobacco products into the State, he recalled the successful apprehension of a notorious inter-State ATM burglary gang in Nammakk district on the basis of information provided by the Kerala Police and congratulated the police of both Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the coordination.
Tamil Nadu was a pioneer in taking swift and effective action on cybercrime complaints and the police had to travel to other states to apprehend offenders, which required cooperation between the States, he said. In 2023, the accused in 1,390 cases belonged to other states, he said.
Referring to the problem of cyber slavery, in which educated youth seeking jobs abroad were exploited, he said many victims suffered mental and physical torture at the hands of criminals based in some South-East Asian countries and urged the forum to address such emerging challenges and strengthen cooperation and coordination to tackle extremism and terrorism.
