Establishment of a special police department to check the influx of narcotics in the Nilgiris

A special unit of the Naxal Special Division (NSD) has been constituted by the Nilgiris District Police to check the flow of narcotics and banned tobacco products in the Nilgiris district.

The new division, named Omega-3, will comprise 46 police personnel – 10 sub-inspectors and 36 constables. Additional District Superintendent of Police Mohan Navas said that there were already two NSD teams working in the Nilgiris, called Omega-1 and Omega-2 divisions. The teams were deployed to cordon the district boundaries and prevent the entry of Left wing extremists into the Nilgiris, he said.

However, the new division will be mainly deployed to check the entry of drugs and banned tobacco products into the district, he said. The 46 personnel will be deployed at 16 check posts along the Coimbatore border as well as in the border districts of Kerala and Karnataka. They will replace normal police personnel for checking the entry of vehicles and other surveillance at the district borders.

Apart from this, Omega-3 team will also be deployed in search operations as and when required, as a complement to the existing NSD teams, the officials said. The Omega-3 team was formally inaugurated at Charing Cross, Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. Police officials said they hoped that the new division would help control the influx of illegal firearms, along with drugs and banned tobacco products, into the district.

between 1st April ^{And on 12 September 2021, the district police have arrested 39 people for possessing and selling marijuana. Two vehicles, 11 kg of ganja and 20 kg of banned gutkha have been seized from them. During the same period, the number of people arrested for selling marijuana has risen to 125 in 2022, while five vehicles used to transport banned vehicles, 15 kg of marijuana and 4,033 kg of gutka have been seized, officials said.}