A group of higher secondary school students from Kerala’s Thrissur on a study tour to Munnar ended up in the crosshairs of law enforcement after mistaking a narcotics squad office for a workshop and boldly asking for a matchbox to light a beedi rolled with gaanja. What was supposed to be a fun excursion quickly unravelled into a grim reality check for these teenagers, when they were caught by authorities.
According to officials from the Excise Narcotic Enforcement Squad in Adimaly, the students had unknowingly walked into their office, mistaking it for a garage, only to realise their mistake too late.
"Thinking it was a workshop, the students entered the office through the back door and asked the officials who were resting for a matchbox. It was only when they noticed the officers in uniform that they realised their blunder," Circle Inspector Raghesh B told The New Indian Express, who was present when the students stumbled in.
The students, part of a group from a Thrissur-based school, had arrived in Adimaly in two buses and were staying at a nearby hotel. After breakfast, ten boys from the group decided to sneak to the back of the hotel to smoke the beedi they had rolled using gaanja they had purchased with their pooled pocket money. What they didn’t realise was that they had stumbled into the wrong building—a crucial mistake.
Upon discovering that they were in the presence of law enforcement, the students attempted to flee, but officers quickly caught them. A search resulted in the seizure of five grams of marijuana and a gram of hashish oil from two of the boys.
"A case has been registered against the two students from whom the contraband was recovered," added CI Raghesh B. The remaining students, many of whom were smoking gaanja for the first time, were subjected to counselling before being handed over to their parents. Their parents were summoned to Adimaly, and the school authorities were also informed about the incident.
The Narcotic Enforcement Squad confirmed that further legal proceedings would be handled by the Juvenile Justice Board.
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