Kochi: With Christmas and New Year celebrations drawing near, drugs are being smuggled into the city from various states in the country, Kochi police said on Wednesday.
To control trafficking of the narcotics during the festival season, nearly 100 policemen have been deployed in the port city, Kochi police commissionerate said in a press release.
The drugs were being smuggled in from states including Delhi, Goa, Odisha, Andhra and Tamilnadu and its flow has increased ahead of Christmas and New Year.
As part of its efforts to curb the smuggling and make the city drug-free, the DistrictAnti-Narcotic Force hasarrested two men and seized 2.5 kg of ganja from them, police said.
The seizure and arrests were made on the basis of intelligence collected by the force, which is functioning under the supervision ofinspector-general and commissioner of police Vijay Sakhare, for effective enforcement against narcotics-smuggling and abuse.
The arrested were identified as Subash, 21, and Vineeth, 27, the police said.
Subhash, hailing from Pathanamthitta, has been living in rented houses in areas around Mulanthuruthy for the last eight years, they said.
He works as a driver and travels to other states such as Tamil Nadu and Goa to procure ganja and distributes it here, the police said.
Subhash was earlier caught by the Excise department for possessing the narcotic, they said.
Vineeth was also involved in robbery, assault, attempt-to-murder cases, they said.
An FIR has been registered and investigation is on to find the source of the narcotic substances, the police said.
The city police commissionerate has been taking stringent action against the drug mafias for quite sometime and special raids have been conducted in various places, they added.