Central Crime Branch (CCB), on Wednesday, claimed that there was no hookah bar found in the City. The CCB claim followed a surprise two-hour raid late evening at 90 identified coffee shops to check whether they were providing hookah to customers.
The raid, according to DCP (Crime) Devaraj, followed Home Minister R Ashoka’s assurance in the Council that the government would crack down on hookah habit in City. The minister’s assurance came in the wake of Congress MLC R V Venkatesh alleging that the drug mafia was rampant in City and that hookah was freely available in coffee shops.
Venkatesh based his allegations on the young girl committing suicide in Mangalore due to drug addiction.
Officers from all squads across CCB drawn for the raid with City divided into five blocks – MG Road, Brigade Road, Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Koramangala and Indiranagar.
Each block was assigned to a special team headed by an ACP and 4 inspectors.
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