Thiruvananthapuram, 18 September (H.S.):The Kerala government has formed a dedicated Anti-Narcotics Investigation Team to intensify Operation Toofan and dismantle major drug trafficking networks with interstate and international links.

The new team, headed by North Range Inspector General Putta Vimaladitya, the nodal officer for Operation Toofan, will begin functioning on Friday. It will operate through three units based in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozhikode.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the units would investigate and supervise high-value narcotics cases, trace drug sources and identify trafficking kingpins and key gang members. Each unit will have a Deputy Superintendent of Police, two Circle Inspectors, two Sub-Inspectors and 10 personnel drawn from the CPO, ACPO and ASI ranks.

The government decided to reinforce the anti-narcotics wing after arrests and investigations under Operation Toofan exposed the scale and complexity of organised drug trafficking in the state.

So far, police have registered 10,918 cases and arrested 11,776 people during the drive. Seizures include 23.95 kg of MDMA, 1,457 kg of ganja, 5.32 grams of hashish oil, 707 grams of brown sugar, 530 grams of heroin, 27.6 grams of cocaine and 2,398 ganja plants.

Responding to criticism over searches at the Reporter Broadcasting Company office in Kochi, Chennithala said the Special Investigation Team had acted within its legal authority and the government would not interfere in the inquiry.

The searches were linked to alleged cheating and financial irregularities surrounding an initiative to bring Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team to Kerala. Chennithala said the SIT had obtained warrants, videographed the searches and neither targeted journalists nor disrupted the channel’s live broadcast. He assured that press freedom would be protected and said any police lapse would be examined.

He stressed that the inquiry concerned financial transactions, not the organisation’s editorial operations. Media activity itself was not under scrutiny, the minister said.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman