‘Operation Toofan’: police step up scrutiny of rental properties in Kozhikode

The anti-narcotics squad, in coordination with the police, will launch a district-wide screening of rental properties in Kozhikode as part of ‘Operation Toofan’, a State-wide anti-narcotics drive. The move follows intelligence inputs that drug traffickers and repeat offenders are using such properties to store smuggled synthetic drugs and other narcotic substances.

The exercise, to be carried out with the support of local administrators, aims to identify vulnerable locations and strengthen surveillance of suspected drug hotspots.

Police sources said the initiative was proposed by senior officials after recent raids led to the seizure of large quantities of narcotic drugs from rented premises across the district. The mapping exercise will focus on properties near identified drug hotspots and those repeatedly figured in narcotics investigations.

As part of the drive, the police will prepare a database of landlords and rental properties in vulnerable areas. Resident committees, local volunteer groups and grama panchayat squads will assist in monitoring the properties. Station House Officers have been directed to supervise the exercise and submit periodic reports to district-level officers and the District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force.

A senior police officer said recent investigations had revealed lapses in tenant verification based on Aadhaar details. In some cases, non-resident Keralites who had leased out their properties had entrusted them to intermediaries, who sublet the premises to multiple occupants without proper documentation or revising rental agreements as required.

“Property owners should verify the identity of every tenant before renting out their premises. Lease and rental agreements should be executed in accordance with the law,” said a Station House Officer, who recently detected several violations during flash inspections in rural parts of Kozhikode district. He added that rented premises had, in several cases, been misused as hideouts and storage facilities by drug traffickers.

The initiative is part of the district police’s ongoing efforts to curb substance abuse and inter-State drug trafficking. Police officers attached to the anti-narcotics squad said enforcement action would be based on verified intelligence inputs and information received from the public.

As part of the intensified flash searches under ‘Operation Toofan’, local administrators and residents’ associations have been asked to report suspicious activities to the police. The police are also verifying details in the Labour department’s online registry of migrant workers and examining information on suspected offenders believed to have absconded from other States.