School students mistakenly step into Excise office in Kerala to light ganja beedi, caught
Idukki (Kerala), Oct 23: Excise officers in this district were in for a rude shock when a group of school students entered their office accidentally and requested for a matchbox to light a beedi rolled with ganja.
The incident occurred in Adimali in the high range district on Monday, where students of an aided school in Thrissur arrived as part of their school excursion with teachers.
They entered the local excise office to get the matchbox mistaking it to be a workshop.
Immediatley, excise sleuths caught the higher secondary students red-handed and seized banned substances like ganja, hashish oil, and articles to fill the contrabands from them.
A case was also registered against two minor students who were found carrying the banned substances.
After having food at a hotel, a group of students stepped out to smoke ganja beedi and wanted a matchbox to light it.
A senior excise officer said they saw the rear of the excise office here and mistook it for a workshop and asked a matchbox.
"When they saw the officers suddenly, they sensed danger and ran out. But, all of them were caught. When we carried out a check, banned substances were recovered," he told PTI.
A case was registered under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, against two students from whom the substances were seized.
All students were given counselling.
"The rest of the students were sent back with their teachers. But, in the case of those two students, parents were summoned and sent them along with them only," he said.
According to officials, drug abuse was rampant during school and college excursions in the state.
"In this particular case, students were said to have pooled money to buy the substance from some drug peddlers," he said.
The department decided to go ahead with legal proceedings against the students, he added.
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Several Indians inducted into Russian Army remain missing: Report
New Delhi: In a concerning development, several Indians who were illegally enlisted in the Russian Army and forcibly sent to the war zone on the Russia-Ukraine border are reportedly still missing.
According to a report published by The Hindu on Sunday, citing communication from the Ministry of External Affairs and statements from the families of two missing men, Mohammad Amin Sheikh, a 65-year-old resident of Kupwara in Tangdhar, Jammu and Kashmir, said that his 27-year-old son, Zahoor Sheikh, last contacted the family on December 31, 2023.
Amin Sheikh mentioned that his son said that he was going for training and would not be available for the next three months on phone. “But when we started getting news about the deaths of Indians in Russia in January, we got worried and called on his number. We could not reach him. We are yet to hear from him,” Sheikh, a retired Inspector from the Public Health Department in Jammu and Kashmir, was quoted as saying by the publication.
Last week, Mohammad Amin Sheikh and his two other sons travelled to New Delhi to seek answers from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Russian Embassy after the Indian Embassy in Moscow failed to give them information about Zahoor Sheikh.
“We submitted a petition at the Russian Embassy,” 31-year-old Aijaz Amin, Zahoor Sheikh’s elder brother, told The Hindu. “They said they are looking into the matter. The MEA officials said that at least 15 Indians are still missing and though the Russian government is cooperative, their commanders on the ground are not responsive,” he added.
Zahoor had travelled to Russia after he came across a YouTube video promising the job of a security helper in Russia. Instead, he was reportedly deceived into joining the Russian Army.
Similarly, 30-year-old Mandeep, from Jalandhar in Punjab, has been missing since March. His brother, Jagdeep Kumar, also arrived in Delhi, looking for answers from the government about his sibling's whereabouts.
“We last spoke on March 3. He initially went to Armenia and was supposed to go to Italy from there in search of work. Instead, he was tricked by an agent to go to Russia and was forced to join the Russian Army. He was sent to the war zone after a few days of training,” Kumar told The Hindu.
Kumar said he met officials from the External Affairs Ministry in the capital city, who told him that at least 25 Indians were reported missing in Russia.
