Exit of a Cop Anti-Drugs Crusader

Mangalore Today News Network

By Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon IRS (Rtd), Ph.D. (Narcotics)

Mangaluru, Sept 7, 2023: Sudden transfers occur routinely in any bureaucracy, and governments take shelter under an innocuous term called “Administrative reasons”.  A ‘routine transfer’ happens annually, as also promotion transfers, compassionate transfers for medical reasons, and request transfer. But, unusual transfers, have different shades, like Punishment transfer, transfer without posting, and compulsory transfer, When an officer gets abruptly transferred for no apparent reason whatsoever, it results in an incomplete tenure, leaving the officer disenchanted and even humiliated.

Mangalore city just witnessed the abrupt transfer of a dynamic City Police Commissioner Mr. Kuldeep Kumar Jain, who was on a crusade against the drug-mafia.

The drug mafia is fairly well entrenched in Karnataka, with deep roots spread across the political spectrum, bureaucracy, traders, peddlers, film stars, fashion models and students. A single man out to combat this lobby is on a Mission Impossible. The drug trade is protected culturally and politically throughout the world, and it depends heavily on state cooperation and compliance to sustain thousands of crores of rupees financial levels of illicit State and national commerce. Wealthy business magnates, their political and bureaucratic collaborators operate outside accountable political processes and legal networks to forge creation of financial empires with links in money laundering havens. It is widely accepted that drug trafficking organizations have considerable cash reserves at their disposal. With the advent of tighter banking controls, drug traffickers face increasing difficulty in laundering those funds for use in the legitimate economy, particularly in traditional money-laundering “safe havens” like real estate, sham import-export businesses and entertainment industry.  It is thus significant that in reforming economies, governments have sought to achieve stability by reducing money supply growth and reining in public expenditures; as a result, politicians, corrupt bureaucrats, shady industrialists, traders have difficulty in maintaining financial flows. Together, liquidity from the drug trade and reform-induced austerity go far in explaining the reluctance of politicians to connive at the growing drug menace.

Illicit retail drug transactions motivate criminal organizations to expand lending operations in reforming economies  by directly lending hard currency to domestic borrowers, without going through the formal banking system. As financial authorities develop and enforce money laundering laws, this direct-lending option will become increasingly attractive to criminal organizations. Drug money could in this light be perceived as a potentially stabilizing force, a source of capital without the strings of conditionality attached, and drug money  flows along hidden channels far beyond government control.  Politicians use shell companies and family or business contacts acting as proxies to hide their illegal assets, as also use complex transnational mechanisms to move, store, and trade their wealth abroad. The single largest marketplace for illegal drugs continues to be the student population.  Students, whether in Karnataka, Kerala, or in educational hubs in Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, still think nothing about occasionally buying a gram of cocaine, a few hits of ecstasy or a quarter ounce of weed to party with their friends on the weekends. A hard core group  having more serious drug habits, and casual users, spend several crores on drugs. All these drug sales mean that large amounts of cash accumulate in secret houses and collection points  at numerous secret locations, guarded by goondas and hooligans. The traffickers,  and the peddlers, who are at the operational field level , have set up a chain of bakeries, fast-food non-vegetarian eating joints, medical shops, nurseries, mobile phone shops, trade in vegetables, flowers, fruits, fish and a battery of food delivery staff to facilitate smooth supply of drugs to suppliers and consumers. Entire stretches of National Highways are lined up with these kinds of shady joints that trade only in cash, to facilitate easy manipulation of accounts and tax avoidance. In such a complicated scenario, all that can be done is to pick up some drug addict students, small time peddler, and boast of drug bust! Politicians and higher echelons of the bureaucracy do not mind this kind of image boosting exercises for public consumption, some photo-ops, vain boasts, might even fetch a medal on Republic Day or Independence Day! Khaki uniforms, stars and Ashok Chakras, cannot transgress beyond this point. He will be replaced in no time. Transfer and postings are dual weapons that the political class can use without any compunction or accountability, using terms like “administrative reasons”, and “Public interest”. No Court or Tribunal will interfere.

But why speak of officers, they are just small fry? Take the case of even a Chief Minister who started a war on drugs in Manipur. He discovered that in no time he was battling not just a drug war but it had become a hydra-headed monster, of deadly instigated tribal conflicts,  religious wars, stage managed stripping of women, rapes, parading by naked women, organized fake protests and dharnas across the country by religious groups, assorted NGOs, and politicians of all hues and colours. The drug lobby had paraded its financial clout and muscle power to bring even a State government to its knees.

The Lone Ranger officer who ventures out to cleanse the system, fights a solo battle, alone on the frontlines, abandoned by crafty superiors, sulking subordinates, and smirking colleagues. As the former City Police Commissioner exits the only consolation is,  ironically in the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts, founder of the underground drug market - Silk Road, "I know this whole market is based on the trust you put in me and I don’t take that lightly. It’s an honour to serve you and though you don’t know who I am, and have no recourse if I were to betray you, I hope that as time goes on I will have more opportunities to demonstrate that my intentions are genuine and no amount of money could buy my integrity.”