Peddlers use unique modus operandi to trick cops

The police raid a hamlet near Dinanagar, Deeda Sansian, regularly; nonetheless, drugs flow like water here. On several occasions, the Excise Department and police have conducted joint raids and sealed houses of smugglers. But these traffickers are a step ahead; they have informants planted in the police department and, before any raid, lock their houses and flee.

Earlier, when a peddler received information about a potential raid, they would arrange for an auto-rickshaw to be parked in the town with a loudspeaker fixed atop it. The song “Watan ki Abroo Khatre Mein hai” would be played loudly as a warning to other peddlers to run from the police. In the early 2000s, with the advent of mobile phones, the auto-rickshaw was pushed out of service. People started informing each other through telephonic calls about impending raids.

Now that the cops have started tracing calls, the auto-rickshaw is making a comeback. A small-time peddler disclosed that the vivifying tune of “Watan ki Abroo Khatre Mein hai” will resonate in the town once again.

Everyone knows the police will find it hard to beat this innovation. On a more serious note, an SSP rank officer said he had a solution. “When I was the police chief, I called a meeting of SHOs where I made it clear that even if a small quantity of drugs was found in their areas of jurisdiction, they would be suspended. Dinanagar became drug-free within a week. However, things were back to normal after a few days. These days police chiefs cannot ask SHOs to do the same. This is because of political patronage the SHOs get from leaders of the area,” he said.

This, in itself, is a telling indictment of the AAP-led state government’s much-hyped battle against drugs. Senior officers admit that the drug-free concept of villages exists only on paper. Practically, it is just not possible.