Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The graph of drug trafficking across the state has seen a two-fold increase in 2023, when placed on par with 2022. The data acquired from the senior police officials revealed that a total of 1,642 drug trafficking cases were reported in 2022, while the number stood at 3,464 in 2023.
Reportedly, conventional drugs such as cocaine, cannabis and MD were in high demand in 2022, but the preference of the drug addicts changed in 2023, and opium, smack and doda chura have fallen into high demand.
The data provided by the senior police officials also revealed that a total of 260 kilograms of opium was seized from the possession of the arrested drug traffickers in 2022, while the amount of doda chura seized stood at 41,753 kilograms. Sources in the police headquarters (PHQ) said that the demand of the said drugs has risen in the state, after they became popular among drug addicts in metro cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata, and a majority of the people consuming it are college students.
As learnt by Free Press, the route from where the drugs are trafficked into the state changes with the demand. Cannabis is brought into the state from Odisha, while charas is trafficked from Nepal. According to the senior crime branch officials, the drug traffickers also push the addicted students into drug peddling, who often end up behind the bars. They added that this information was received after two people, who used to traffic cannabis into Bhopal and other districts of the state from Nepal, were caught by the Bhopal crime branch, and they spilled the beans about the same.
Several police officials in the PHQ, requesting anonymity, said that the need of the hour is to dismantle the network of the traffickers, after which curbing drug trafficking across will turn into an easy task for them.
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