Hyderabad: The EAGLE Force of the Telangana Police on Saturday, February 28, caught three pan shop owners near a school in Mahabubnagar district selling cigarettes and gutka to minors, even as a separate inquiry has revealed a growing problem of banned e-cigarette use among school students in the district.

Acting on a complaint, the police conducted surveillance on the three pan shops near ZPHS Boys School in Badepally, Jadcherla, and caught the owners red-handed selling tobacco products to minors within 100 metres of the school premises. Cases have been registered under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and the Juvenile Justice Act.

The e-cigarette concern surfaced separately when intelligence inputs flagged students accessing the banned devices. An inquiry traced the supply source, and district-wise sales data was compiled and shared with field units for further action.

Two months ago, the EAGLE Force received specific information that students of Indus School had been found smoking e-cigarettes in the school bathroom. Investigations revealed that one student had access to a device because his father smokes, while another had got hold of one belonging to an uncle who smokes and had forgotten to take it back. The school confirmed the incident and suspended the students involved.

The EAGLE Force pointed out that action should also have been taken against the parents responsible for the minors gaining access to the banned devices. E-cigarettes carry more than four times the nicotine content of a regular cigarette and put young users at significantly higher risk of drug abuse later in life.

Despite repeated persuasion, the school refused to hand over the e-cigarettes or lodge a complaint against the parents. This was the second such incident at the school. A similar case had been reported earlier, following which the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau conducted an awareness programme there, but the school had on that occasion too declined to file a complaint.