Bengaluru police witness five-fold increase in drug seizures in 2022

Bengaluru: The amount of drugs confiscated by the Bengaluru police in the city as part of a crackdown on drug users and peddlers in 2022 saw a five-fold increase as compared to the drugs seized five years earlier, according to official statistics compiled from the Bengaluru City Police.

The total amount of drugs confiscated in Bengaluru in 2022 was 3,913 kg, a slight increase from the 3,912 kg found in 2020, when the police started a crackdown on drug use in the city after receiving tips from famous drug users. Bengaluru witnessed five times more seizures in 2020 and 2022 than it did in 2018, when 764 kg was seized.

In addition to the typical large amounts of marijuana (3,746 kg), the city saw a significant increase in the amount of other drugs (hashish, MDMA, and LSD) captured in 2022. In 2022, 167 kg of other drugs were seized, up from 49 kg in 2021.

Drugs worth a total of Rs 89.53 crore were found in the city in 2022. At an annual crime statistics presentation to the media earlier this month, Bengaluru Police Commissioner C. H. Prathap Reddy stated that this was the highest amount of drugs ever seized in the city.

In Bengaluru, a total of 4,005 people, including 557 peddlers, were detained in connection with drug cases in 2022, compared to 5,741 in 2021, 3,673 in 2020, and 1,270 in 2019.

Drugs worth Rs 39 crore were confiscated by the specialised crime unit in 2022 in comparison with Rs 25 crore in 2021, over Rs 7 crore in 2020, Rs 3.14 crore in 2019, and Rs 3.24 crore in 2018, according to data for drug cases handled in the city by the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch alone. While Bengaluru has constantly seen over 3,000 kg of ganja seized over the past three years, the amount of synthetic drugs and hashish confiscated in the city has surged by six times during that time. Approximately 26 kg of synthetic drugs and hashish were found in total in 2020, but as much as 167 kg of these drugs were found in 2022.

"It appears that some synthetic drugs are produced locally or purchased on the dark web. This is the cause of the increase in drug seizures," said a police source.

Proceedings to seize the properties of two drug dealers were initiated in 2022. Such actions will be strengthened in the coming days, police commissioner Reddy said earlier this month.

The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988, which permits the one-year preventive detention of drug dealers without bail, was also used by the Bengaluru police in 2022 against three drug dealers. The PIT NDPS criteria were used against two drug dealers each in 2020 and 2021, three of whom were foreigners.