Hyderabad: Sleuths of the prohibition and excise (P&D) department conducted checks on around 25 bars and pubs in Rangareddy, and tested close to 75 people for drugs on Saturday night. None of them tested positive, said P&E department director V.B. Kamalasan Reddy.
According to Kamalasan Reddy, around 25 pubs, mainly located in Jubilee Hills, Madhapur, Gachibowli and Serilingampally, were checked this week, following similar checks last week. “Until now, we have tested close to 125 people, all of whom tested negative for drugs,” he said.
Officials collected urine samples of random pub-goers were collected and checked them for drugs. No checks were done on the basis of tip-offs, he said.
S.Y. Qureshi, joint director, P&E department, said that a special 12-panel drug detection kit was being used for the past two weeks. The kit is capable of detecting 12 drugs namely cocaine, amphetamine, meta amphetamine, tetrahydrocannabinol (ganja), methadone, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), morphine, opioids, phencyclidine, barbiturate, benzodiazepine and tricyclic antidepressants.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle about the procedure of the test, Qureshi said, “A simple urine sample is taken. The machine consists of all the drugs numbered 1,2, and 3, and on whatever number a red line does not appear once the test is done, the person tests positive for that particular drug.”
Speaking of the most detected drug, Qureshi said, “In this check, no one tested positive but the most detected usually is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is basically ganja. It is detected among a range of people, from rich to poor, from young to old.”
