Kerala's Operation Toofan: 15,515 arrested and 1,960 kg of ganja in five months
Kerala police say they arrested 15,515 people and registered 14,369 cases in the first five months of Operation Toofan, and seized 1,960.139 kg of ganja, 7,261 grams of hashish oil and 10,341 cannabis plants. Inspector General Putta Vimaladitya gave the figures at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
Kerala police say they arrested 15,515 people in the first five months of
Operation Toofan, the state’s anti-drug campaign.[1][2]The same period produced
14,369 registered drug cases.[1][3][2]Of those arrested, 1,173 have been remanded
in judicial custody.[1][2]Inspector General Putta Vimaladitya, the campaign’s
state nodal officer, gave the figures at a press conference in
Thiruvananthapuram.[3][2]
Officers seized1,960.139 kg of ganja, the Malayalam name for cannabis, during
the campaign.[1][2]Police found 10,341 cannabis plants and 8,682 grams of
cannabis beedis, or cannabis cigarettes.[1][2]The haul also included 28.659 kg
of MDMA, 1,226.678 grams of methamphetamine, 673.076 grams of heroin, 606.81
grams of charas and 27.634 grams of cocaine.[1][2]
Police registered 193 cases for commercial-quantity trafficking and 638 for
intermediate quantities.[3][2]Another 4,651 cases involved small quantities of
drugs.[3][2]Action was initiated in 8,887 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and in 8,048 cases under the tobacco-control
COTPA law.[3][2]The police also initiated action against 137 people under the
Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, KAAPA.[3]Proceedings under
the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in NDPS Act were initiated against 134 people,
of whom 25 were placed in preventive detention.[3][2]Red Corner Notices were
issued against four people who had gone abroad, with a Blue Corner Notice
against one person and Look Out Circulars against 10.[1]
Police froze 148 bank accounts and began steps to freeze illegal assets acquired
through drug trafficking.[1][2]The police said they acted on information from
8,125 phone calls and 5,668 WhatsApp messages from the public.[1][2]The
operation combines enforcement with prevention and rehabilitation, including a
Toofan Local Government 2.0 programme to find drug users and offer counselling,
treatment and rehabilitation.[1][2]Police said surveillance cameras linked to
police stations would be installed in government schools under a Toofan ICE
project.[1]Inspector General Putta Vimaladitya said the drive was launched on
2 June.[4]
The campaign also led to seizures of an undisclosed amount of hashish, LSD
stamps, nitrazepam and opium, and officers found 8,682 grams of cannabis beedis.[3]
Police said the campaign had also seized 7,261.352 grams of hashish oil, 5.85 grams of hashish and 3.650 grams of cannabis oil.[1]Officers seized 186 vehicles and 801 mobile phones from accused people in various cases.[1]Police said 2,534 people had been profiled and that magistrate bond conditions were imposed in 1,584 cases under Section 34 of the NDPS Act.[1]
Photos and video
Header image the outlet uses for the Operation Toofan five-month update, captioned with the arrest and seizure totals.Photo details
The sources give the totals for the first five months of Operation Toofan but not a separate date for the press conference beyond the 4 November 2026 publication date.
No area of cannabis fields destroyed, street value of the cannabis, or number of people still in custody beyond the 1,173 remanded was published.
The article reports separate major seizures in Manjeri, Palakkad, Mattancherry and Perumbavoor; these are different events and are not recorded in this campaign report.
The ganja total comes from Marunadan Malayalee and The Hindu; Rediff (PTI) gives only a combined figure of more than 2,000 kg of narcotics including MDMA, hashish and heroin, which cannot be separated into cannabis weight.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Marunadan Malayalee: Officers also seized 7,261.352 grams of hashish oil, 5.85 grams of hashish and 3.650 grams of cannabis oil.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Marunadan Malayalee: Officers seized 186 vehicles and 801 mobile phones from the accused.
The per-case hashish oil, hashish, charas and cannabis oil weights are listed separately from the ganja total and are not converted into kg_seized, to avoid double counting.
The 8,682 grams of cannabis beedis are not included in kg_seized because the source does not say whether they fall within the ganja total.
This Dailyhunt page reprints Marunadan Malayali's article and gives no press conference date beyond a publication time of 4 November 2026.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Marunadan Malayali (via Dailyhunt): The police also initiated action against 137 people under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, KAAPA.
The article reports separate seizures in Manjeri, Palakkad, Mattancherry and Perumbavoor, including 15.020 grams and 16 kg of hybrid cannabis; these are different events and are not added to this campaign report.
The page gives no street value for the cannabis, no area of fields destroyed and no number of people still in custody beyond the 1,173 remanded.
The page picture carries no credit and is captioned only with the campaign totals, so its subject beyond that caption is not established.
Mahabubabad district police destroyed 99.688 kg of dry ganja, valued at Rs 49.84 lakh, seized in 19 NDPS cases. The court-approved disposal took place at a biomedical waste facility at Gopalpet in Khammam district under the district Drug Disposal Committee.
Gurgaon Traffic Police intercepted two people carrying cannabis at Nainwal Cut in Manesar and recovered 12kg, handing them to the local police station for investigation. The seizure was reported as part of traffic police crime-prevention work over the past 30 days.
Police in Bihar's Kosi division seized 8,254.794 kilograms of ganja during an ongoing anti-narcotics campaign across Saharsa, Supaul and Madhepura districts launched in February 2026. Authorities sent 2,717 suspected traffickers to jail across all contraband categories, with recent weekly operations recovering another 52.1 kg of ganja and arresting 13 people on dry-narcotics offences.
A joint GRP, RPF and NCB team seized 31.15 kg of ganja in seven packets from a minor carrying two bags on train No. 19484 at Ara Junction. The child was sent to a remand home for production before the Juvenile Justice Board.