Mangaluru: Mangaluru City police successfully arrested 132 drug peddlers so far this year, said city police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy. He told reporters on Friday, that 160 people were arrested for drug peddling last year. As many as 73 peddlers were arrested in 37 cases in the past three months alone, and 46 of the accused are still in jail. While 1,200 people tested positive for drug consumption last year, 478 were found positive so far this year.While 113 colleges have agreed to conduct random drug consumption testing within their premises, drives were already conducted in 40 colleges. While 1,200 tests were conducted, 10 students tested positive for drug consumption. Counselling was done for the students. Meanwhile, police traced the sources of drug supply, leading to the arrests of many peddlers, he said.On the QR code-based anonymous reporting system, which was launched to allow students to report drug-related incidents, the commissioner said the mechanism has been receiving an enormous response in the city. Students have been helping police by sharing information with locations using the QR code. Based on the information, police arrested many peddlers. Some non-profit organisations also agreed to join hands to use the QR code system, he said.The commissioner said that police seized 2.4 kg of ganja and 14g of MDMA in the past four days. The accused were remanded in judicial custody.Use of loudspeakersTo a query on the use of loudspeakers, the commissioner said that police have not created hurdles for festival celebrations within the commissionerate limits. However, action was taken only when sound system caused inconvenience to the public. He said that people witnessed the Ganesha festival procession, which was taken out from Nehru Maidan. This is an example that police have not created any obstacles, he said, adding that celebrations should not cause inconvenience to others.He insisted that permission should be obtained from the respective police stations for the use of loudspeakers during public events. Further, he said even indoor celebrations should not create a nuisance to neighbours.
