SIINS helps Shimla Police combat drug menace in district

Shimla : An anonymous source network, known as SIINS, is helping Shimla Police in combating drug abuse, dismantling interstate drug gangs and apprehending key figures in the drug trade, an official said Monday.

SIINS (Social Intelligence Integrated Network System) integrates social participants, including women’s groups (mahila mandals), school and college students, conscious civilians, ex-servicemen, retired police officers, taxi operators and hoteliers to collaborate with Shimla Police in gathering information about drug peddlers and users, he said.

Till November this year, Shimla police had arrested 557 individuals in 237 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. This includes 21 females, 142 interstate drug operatives, and 35 Nepalese nationals, police said. “Information collected through SIINS, particularly from Mahila Mandals and college students, helped the police arrest 52 drug peddlers who had become both addicts and suppliers in the Rohru and surrounding areas, along with the kingpin Shahi Mahatma,” SP Shimla Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI on Monday.

Shahi Mahatma, alias Shashi Negi, an apple trader, who was supplying ‘chitta’ (adulterated heroin) and running a large-scale drug operation in Shimla, was arrested on September 20, he said. In another case, information gathered from taxi operators and hoteliers helped police arrest 15 interstate drug suppliers, who were identified through suspicious activities at specific hotels Additionally, inputs from the transport department in Rampur, Theog and Nankhari areas of the district contributed to the arrest of several drug peddlers, Gandhi said.

The modus operandi involved generating orders for drugs via WhatsApp, initiating supplies, and making deliveries where the delivery person and final receiver never directly interacted. Participants in the supply chain operated like unrelated units, making it difficult to trace, the SP said. “SIINS is proving to be effective in eradicating drug abuse and smuggling in Shimla.

The aim is to use SIINS to end the scourge of drug abuse, which is severely affecting the youth and their families, while also reducing drug-related crimes like theft, burglary, and chain snatching,” the SP said. The system tracks drug peddlers, categorising them as active or inactive, and identifies high-risk areas suffering from severe drug abuse.

Through feedback from local residents, SIINS has revealed that the illegal trade in ‘chitta’ (adulterated heroin) is worth approximately Rs 45 crore in the district, the police added.