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Hyderabad: The Karimnagar police on Friday, June 19, booked 52 pan shops for allegedly selling drugs and banned tobacco products.

As part of a special drive, police raided 99 pan shops located near educational institutions in the commissionerate, of which the owners of 52 shops were booked.

Preventing youth from drug addiction

According to Karimnagar Commissioner of Police Gaush Alam, the special drive was taken up to prevent youth in the district from falling prey to drugs.

Hyderabad CP raids pan shops

To curb the sale of nicotine-based substances to schoolchildren, police on April 18 conducted search operations at more than 550 pan shops located near educational institutions across Hyderabad under the Operation Safe School programme.

Around 5,000 police personnel, split into 500 teams, searched pan shops located around 100 yards from schools in areas including Puranapul, Aghapura, Habeebnagar, Malakpet, Chaderghat, Kalapather, Charminar, Pathergatti, Golconda, Goshamahal, Chandrayangutta, Balapur, Uppuguda, Shaheennagar, Borabanda and other localities.

Hailing the operation as a success, Hyderabad City Commissioner of Police, VC Sajjanar, warned shop owners to discourage selling tobacco-based substances like cigarettes or pan masala to children. “It is prohibited to have a pan shop within 100 yards of an educational institution. We will invoke Sections of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, and if necessary, the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS),” he said.