Uttar Pradesh: Mathura police say 'rats ate 500 kg of seized cannabis worth Rs 60 lakh'

Mathura: The police have pinned blame on rats for destroying more than 500 kg of cannabis that was seized from dealers and kept in police station warehouses.

The report submitted by Mathura police to a special court under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, says that rats ‘ate’ more than 500 kg of marijuana that was confiscated and kept in the warehouses of the Shergarh and Highway police station.

The additional district judge ordered SSP Mathura Abhishek Yadav to get rid of the ‘mice menace’ and prove that rats actually consumed the cannabis worth Rs 60 lakh.

Judge cites similar cases in UP

According to BBC, the special court in UP said that ‘rats are tiny animals and they do not fear the police. It is difficult to protect the drug from them’. The judge further cited three cases in which cannabis was destroyed by rodents.

The court referred to a case that was handled by the Highway police station in which over 195 kg of discovered marijuana was destroyed by rats. In another case in May this year, smuggling weed weighing 386 kg concealed in millet bags in a truck, was seized by the cops in the Shergarh region.

The three suspects were taken to prison by a judge after being booked under the NDPS Act. The court told the police to turn over the cannabis, however, Shergarh SHO informed the court that “rats ate the weed” that was sealed in packets and stored in the warehouse.

Judge Sanjay Chaudhary referring to the third case said some 700 kg of cannabis confiscated by the police was lying in police stations in Mathura, however, “all of it was under danger of infestation by rats.”

Notably, according to a study published in 2019, when laboratory rats were given cannabis-induced dough, they “tended to become less active and their body temperature also was lowered.”

In 2017, police in Bihar had blamed rats for consuming thousands of litres of seized alcohol, and a year later, the state government banned the sale and consumption of alcohol.

In similar cases around the world, in 2018, eight Argentinian police officers were sacked after they pinned blame on mice for the disappearance of half a ton of marijuana from a police warehouse.

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