KOCHI, Jan 29 (PTI): As many as 380 people were arrested for drunken driving, use or possession of drugs and publicly consuming alcohol from various parts of the port-city during an hours-long checking by the police.
A top city police officer said that 370 cases were registered during the three-and-a-half hour long operation, which began on Saturday night, for rash and negligent driving, drunken driving, use or possession of drugs, publicly consuming alcohol and under the Kerala Gaming Act.
Of the 370 cases, 242 were for drunken driving and 26 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and 23 for rash and negligent driving, the officer said.
“Such operations were carried out in the recent past and more will be carried out in the coming future. These will be surprise or unexpected operations,” the officer said.
He also said that as part of its initiative to make the city safer and monitor as well as prevent anti-social activities, police are going to make it mandatory for shops which are open late into the night to install CCTV cameras facing the establishment and the road.
“This will also be helpful for the shop owners,” the officer said.
He further said that many people when stopped by police at night give the excuse that they are going for tea to a nearby shop.
“The CCTVs will help us verify such claims,” the officer said.
He said a list of such establishments, which are open late into the night, was being prepared and once that was done, they will be asked to install the CCTV cameras within a week or so.
Meanwhile, during the checking which began on the previous night and ended during the wee hours of Sunday morning, an officer was injured when two persons on a bike did not stop during the inspection and hit him, breaking one of his arms, police said.
