Hyderabad: This New Year eve, cops manning the streets of Hyderabad will not just be armed with breath analysers to crackdown on drunk drivers but they will also have on them hi-tech gadgets, to ensure that revellers aren’t hitting the road after downing a dose of drugs.
This first-of-its-kind enforcement drive in the city will be activated outside pubs, at traffic check-posts and even around farmhouses, cops said.
Two Hi-Tech Gadgets
In the last few days, the TS-Anti Narcotics Bureau (TS-NAB) has distributed two different kinds of gadgets to the three commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda, as part of this drive against drugs.
TS-NAB sleuths have bought 20 Drager Kits which can detect drugs in a person’s body by testing his/her saliva sample. To add to that they have also sourced 100 Abbott Kits that’s more accurate and use urine samples of a person to check for drugs.
“It is for the commissionerates to decide where and how they want to use these kits. If there is an input about drug abuse in a pub or at a rave party, police will reach the concerned place and conduct the test on the suspects by collecting saliva samples. We can ascertain the facts there and then,” a senior officer of TS-NAB told TOI.
Even if the substance is flushed down in the washroom, which is the most common method used by accused to escape getting caught, police will make the suspects undergo the test to screen for evidence of drug use.
Traffic Junctions On Radar
A similar enforcement drive will be rolled out at traffic junctions, alongside drunken driving checks. Members of the clues team are expected to be stationed at junctions alongside traffic police, to conduct tests.
“Motorists will be picked based on suspicion and will be made to take the saliva test,” the official added. Cops will also use Abbott Kits. “We want to use this test in front of doctors and make a scientific analysis,” a police official said.
Both the gadgets will not only give details of the drug used but also the amount consumed.
Destigmatisation
“We will keep family members of the drug abusers in the loop so that they can help the concerned undergo de-addiction. Apart from that, serious deliberation is being done to inform the institute if the abuser is a student or the employer. Our top priority is to make sure the abuser is not stigmatised, but the concerned persons can have surveillance on them during the de-addiction period and support them to avoid them becoming repeat offenders,’’ official said.
As per 54 A of the NDPS Act, once a drug abuser undergoes de-addiction sessions and periodically tests negative, the concerned person is treated as witness and no more as an accused.
This first-of-its-kind enforcement drive in the city will be activated outside pubs, at traffic check-posts and even around farmhouses, cops said.
Two Hi-Tech Gadgets
In the last few days, the TS-Anti Narcotics Bureau (TS-NAB) has distributed two different kinds of gadgets to the three commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda, as part of this drive against drugs.
TS-NAB sleuths have bought 20 Drager Kits which can detect drugs in a person’s body by testing his/her saliva sample. To add to that they have also sourced 100 Abbott Kits that’s more accurate and use urine samples of a person to check for drugs.
“It is for the commissionerates to decide where and how they want to use these kits. If there is an input about drug abuse in a pub or at a rave party, police will reach the concerned place and conduct the test on the suspects by collecting saliva samples. We can ascertain the facts there and then,” a senior officer of TS-NAB told TOI.
Even if the substance is flushed down in the washroom, which is the most common method used by accused to escape getting caught, police will make the suspects undergo the test to screen for evidence of drug use.
Traffic Junctions On Radar
A similar enforcement drive will be rolled out at traffic junctions, alongside drunken driving checks. Members of the clues team are expected to be stationed at junctions alongside traffic police, to conduct tests.
“Motorists will be picked based on suspicion and will be made to take the saliva test,” the official added. Cops will also use Abbott Kits. “We want to use this test in front of doctors and make a scientific analysis,” a police official said.
Both the gadgets will not only give details of the drug used but also the amount consumed.
Destigmatisation
“We will keep family members of the drug abusers in the loop so that they can help the concerned undergo de-addiction. Apart from that, serious deliberation is being done to inform the institute if the abuser is a student or the employer. Our top priority is to make sure the abuser is not stigmatised, but the concerned persons can have surveillance on them during the de-addiction period and support them to avoid them becoming repeat offenders,’’ official said.
As per 54 A of the NDPS Act, once a drug abuser undergoes de-addiction sessions and periodically tests negative, the concerned person is treated as witness and no more as an accused.