Police to form spl team to curb drug abuse among students

Coimbatore: City deputy commissioner of police (law & order) L Balaji Saravanan on Thursday said a special team would be soon formed to prevent college students from getting addicted to marijuana and other drugs and dissuade them from peddling drugs. He said police officials’ phone numbers would be shared with the student community to help them pass on secret information regarding drug peddlers to officials and assured that the identity of student informers won’t be revealed.


Balaji Saravanan, who took charge as the new deputy commissioner of police (DCP) on Wednesday, said the city police had already formed a special team to curb movement of marijuana and they had seized several hundred kilograms of ganja.

“A group of students, who are studying in private arts and science colleges, were arrested a few months ago for peddling ganja among their classmates. During interrogation it was revealed that some of them had procured the contraband from Andhra Pradesh. Since the trend will affect the entire student community, we have decided to curtail the movement of ganja among the college students,” the DCP said.

Pointing out that some students were eager to share information about the reach of ganja among the college students, he said many of them didn’t know how to approach police. “We plan to form a special team and its members will maintain a good rapport with students. It will help students share information on drug movements with police. The identity of student informers will not be made public in any circumstance,” Balaji Saravanan said.

The DCP said the special team would visit various colleges to sensitize students on the need to curb drug peddling on campuses and other issues. “We will also create awareness among the college girl students about how to use Facebook and social websites without falling prey to the designs of other people.”