Two guards of private university held for selling drugs to students

Two private security guards working at the Amity University’s campus in Greater Noida have been arrested for allegedly selling cannabis to students and others, police said on Wednesday.

The guards, Naveen Mishra and Santosh Singh, are both local residents and in their 30s. They were held late on Tuesday night outside the Amity University campus, a police official said.

“Mishra was held with 1.25 kg cannabis, while Singh was carrying 1.2 kg cannabis when they were arrested at 11.45 pm on Tuesday,” Station House Officer (SHO) of Knowledge Park police station Arvind Pathak said.

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Pathak said the police were getting complaints about the illegal sale of drugs from the area under the Knowledge Park police station limits.

“We have arrested six drug traffickers from our area in the recent times,” the SHO added.

Meanwhile, the Amity University said the arrested guards were employees of a private security agency hired by the varsity and it has a zero-tolerance policy towards drugs.

“Amity has outsourced its security work to a private agency and the guards arrested were employed by it and not Amity University. The guards were arrested outside the campus and they were not on duty at the time,” a university spokesperson told PTI.

She said the university will ask the private security agency to have “more stringent guidelines” for its employees and guards.

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“The university from time to time counsels the students about the menace of drugs. We have a proper counselling centre and keep educating students about the harms of drug abuse. Amity has zero tolerance policy towards drugs, alcohol and smoking,” the spokesperson said.

The accused guards have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and were produced in the court in the afternoon, according to the police.

SHO Pathak said other details in the case like from where they were procuring the cannabis were being gathered and the duo has no previous criminal record.

The arrest comes amid a crackdown by the Gautam Buddh Nagar police on drug trafficking in the district.

In a three-day anti-drug operation which began on October 22, the police have arrested 29 alleged drug traffickers and seized over 30 kg cannabis worth lakhs of rupees from their possession, according to officials.