Sleuths of the narcotics department on Tuesday raided a paan shop in the posh Galleria Market in DLF City and recovered a huge cache of molasses tobacco pouches.
The Haryana government has banned the consumption of molasses tobacco products due to high nicotine content in them.
In
the wake of reports that people were using hookahs within the confines of their homes after a ban was clamped on hookah bars and molasses tobacco products were available at paan shops, a team led by inspector Naripan Goyal raided Sanjay Paan Shop in Galleria Market on Tuesday.
"We recovered 120 packets of 50 gm each containing molasses tobacco in three flavours — mint, green mango and brain freezer — from the shop,” Goyal said.
“We have sent the samples to the laboratory in Panchkula to test the nicotine level. These packets were marked as 'Made in India'.”
“Since the paan shop owner did not procure a licence under the Haryana Drugs and Cosmetics Act, we booked him under Section 18(C),” Goyal added.
Asked whether the contraband was available at hookah bars, Goyal claimed, “We sent decoy customers to hookah bars, but none of them was found offering hookahs.”
In November, the Gurgaon administration had invoked Section 144 of the CrPC to ban the functioning of Hookah bars in the district.
The orders stated that Hooka bars were serving tobacco molasses containing nicotine, which was injurious to health of the people, especially college students and youth.
Taking the health hazards of tobacco and nicotine into account, the operation of Hookah Bars were prohibited in the entire district.
Meanwhile, the orders were also sent to the district police and health authorities for strict compliance for initiating action against those violating the orders under Section 188, IPC.