Bhopal News: Women Using Children As ‘Mules’ For Marijuana Smuggling, Claims Police

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Women involved in smuggling and peddling of marijuana in the city are using their children asmules for the illegal trade and also as a cover.

The Bhopal Crime Branch on Friday detained a 14-year-old boy with over 4 kg of marijuana, revealing a disturbing pattern of drug traffickers exploitingminors in narcotics smuggling.

According to Crime Branch officials, the arrested juvenile disclosed that his mother, Bharti Kuchbundia had introduced him to the illegal trade and routinely involved him in transporting and selling marijuana. Bharti, who is currently absconding, allegedly not only made her son peddle drugs in the city but also took him along on trips to Odisha to procure consignments.

Crime Branch officers said that this was not an isolated incident and in several earlier incidents too, minors had been caught selling or carrying marijuana. The investigation has exposed a growingtrend among traffickers to use children, some as young as eight-years-old, even infants to evade police.

During the probe, police discovered that a large number of women in Bhopal with children wereinvolved in marijuana smuggling and used their kids as shields for the illegal trade. The sons ofaged women involved in marijuana peddling joined their mothers.

Additional DCP Shailendra Singh Chauhan said that in several previous cases, both womenand minors were caught with contraband. “In many instances, women travelled with toddlers or infantsto make their movement look routine while smuggling marijuana from Odisha and other states,”he said.

Officials said that Infants or very young children of arrested women remained with their mothers injail, while older minors were handed over to relatives or taken under protection as per the JuvenileJustice Act.

Modus operandi

Officials said that children aged between 8 and 14 years were often made to travel with smugglerson trains or buses with small bags containing marijuana. As they appeared to be regularpassengers or schoolchildren with their parents, they rarely attracted police attention.

Similarly, women smugglers travelled with young children pose as ordinary families, concealing narcotics in their luggage to avoid security checks.

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