I smell a rat… Indian police say missing 440 pounds of cannabis has been EATEN by rodents
- Police were asked to produce loot as evidence but said rats ate everything
- The court defended the police apology, saying it was difficult to protect drugs from rats
- A senior police official also blamed heavy rains for the disappearance of cannabis stocks
Indian police have claimed rats were behind the disappearance of around 440 pounds of cannabis held in police stations after it was seized by drug dealers.
A court in Uttar Pradesh state was told that rats appeared to have eaten the entire drug shipment when it asked police to produce it as evidence.
“Rats are tiny animals and are not afraid of the police. It’s difficult to protect the drug from them,” the court said, according to BBC News.
Rats and mice blamed for disappearance of drugs recently seized by police in India (stock image)
Judge Sanjay Chaudhary also cited other cases in which police blamed rodents for missing drug supplies in the state’s Mathura district.
In one example, part of 850 pounds of cannabis stored by police disappeared, with hungry rats taking the blame for its disappearance.
The judge said police had no way of dealing with voracious rodents because the animals were “too small”.
He also suggested that to protect confiscated drugs from “fearless mice,” the loot should be auctioned off to labs and drugmakers, with the government keeping the proceeds.
In a twist in the plot, a senior Mathura police officer said some of the missing cannabis was “damaged due to heavy rains” and was not touched by mice or rats.
Rodents have been blamed for various incidents in India over the years.
In 2018, rats nibbled on more than £13,000 worth of banknotes after bursting into an ATM in India.
And that same year, a three-story house collapsed after rats burrowed into its foundations, nearly killing a family of eight who had left just hours earlier.
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