Chennai, Apr 1 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Police have been conducting raids across the state to curb the growing drug menace, and have so far arrested more than 350 people for peddling drugs such as marijuana, MDMA and other narcotic substances.

The state police have also alerted the Marine Police and the Indian Coast Guard after receiving intelligence inputs of drugs being smuggled into the country from abroad through certain coastal towns.

A senior police officer said that there are several pockets in the state which are used as transport points, and in many cases, youngsters are picked up as carriers.

Speaking to IANS, the officer said, "We have already arrested over 350 people who are part of the drugs syndicates, including peddlers, and major operators in some cases. We are also getting inputs about some coastal towns of the state being used as hubs by international drug racketeers, and hence a major crackdown is on."

In December 2021, the Tamil Nadu Police had arrested few former cadres of the LTTE for smuggling drugs into the state through the sea route for raising funds for the activities of the organisation.

The police are, however, tight-lipped about such networks being used for drug transportation.

The crackdown commenced after the intelligence agencies received tip-offs about drug syndicates becoming active in the state.

The narcotics wing of the police had recently conducted raids at certain hideouts in Coimbatore and arrested around 100 people from in and around the city.

The police said that the drug syndicates are using the services of technical persons and social media for the movement of drugs within the state. Several techies are part of the drugs syndicates in the Metro cities of Tamil Nadu and efforts are on to hunt them down.

Tamil Nadu DGP C. Sylendra Babu, who is monitoring the progress of the crackdown, has instructed the officers not to use the local police for the operations out of the fear that some key accused may escape the net.

The Marine Police and the Indian Coast Guard are also monitoring the movement of vessels, including fishing boats, as the possibility of smuggling in drugs into the state from Sri Lanka is quite high.