Bengaluru,  To deal with the house owners who are giving out their properties on rent to foreign nationals without collecting, verifying their details, and are only concerned about collecting higher rents, the Bengaluru police department has decided to make house owners as accused persons in the narcotic and drug cases.

Of late, considering the involvement of foreign nationals in the drug racket in the state capital Bengaluru, the police have started a three-pronged investigation to deal with the drug mafia.

The probe will look into both the peddlers' side, foreigners involved in the drug racket and the house owners as well, from now on.

"Those giving their houses to foreign nationals on rent are supposed to provide details to the local police station. First, they should check the travel documents before giving rent. Their identity cards, whether the documents are permissible or not. If it is genuine, they can go ahead. Otherwise, it is their duty to inform local police. The role of house owners who are aiming to get high rent from them are being taken seriously," Deputy Commissioner of Police Dr SD Sharanappa told IANS.

Recently, a notice was slapped on a house owner in Govindapura in connection with a drug case in which one Nigerian national and a South African woman were involved in which 56 grams of cocaine was recovered. Both were found to be over-staying illegally in the country and involved in drug peddling. On questioning, the owner did not have any details of these persons and had rented out his property for a higher amount.

"The house has been seized and we will go ahead with further legal action on this owner," said DCP Sharanappa. "Till now, only notices were issued to house owners. We have decided to make them accused persons and seize their property if the details of foreign nationals are not verified before giving their property on rent to them," he explained.

As many as 70 foreign nationals were arrested in 2020 under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS) in comparison to 44 in 2018 and 38 in 2019. The number of arrested persons in 2020 under NDPS Act was increased by 200 percent in 2020.