The police registered 675 cases and arrested 749 individuals for peddling ganja across four districts in the Coimbatore range between January and August this year.
A total of 738 kg of ganja, alongside 50 vehicles used for drug trafficking, were seized during this period. Additionally, 36 drug peddlers were detained under the Goondas Act.
According to police, joint operations were held in 1,731 locations in collaboration with Food Safety Officers (FSO) during this period, in which 12,916 kg of banned tobacco products were seized, 1,294 cases were registered, 1,300 people arrested and 725 shops sealed.
Additional raids carried out near educational institutions led to the registration of 11 cases, 11 arrests, seizure of 323 kg gutkha, and the sealing of nine shops, said police.
In a meeting with senior police officers from the Coimbatore range on Sunday, Director General of Police (DGP) and Head of the Police Force Shankar Jiwal reviewed the measures being taken to curb drug peddling and sale of gutkha and instructed the officers to intensify action by probing the financial transactions of the offenders and freezing their bank accounts.
The DGP also instructed them to rigorously enforce the newly-amended Prohibition introduced by the Tamil Nadu Government to combat bootlegging and smuggling of illicit liquor from neighbouring States.
A total of 8,722 cases of illegal liquor sales were registered over the past eight months, and 8,808 persons arrested in the Coimbatore range. Police forces also seized 102 litres of illicit liquor and detained 23 history sheeters under the Goondas Act.
Inspector General of Police (West Zone) Senthil Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Coimbatore Range) A. Saravanasundar, and Superintendents of Police from Coimbatore, Tiruppur, the Nilgiris and Erode districts participated in the meeting.