I smell a rat… Indian police say missing 440lb of cannabis has been EATEN by rodents

I smell a rat… Indian police say missing 440lb of cannabis has been EATEN by rodents

  • Police were asked to produce haul as evidence but said rats had eaten it all
  • Court defended police’s excuse, saying ‘it’s difficult to protect’ drugs from rats
  • Senior police officer also blamed heavy rains for vanishing cannabis stash

Indian police have claimed rats are behind the disappearance of around 440lbs of cannabis that had been held in police stations after being seized from drug dealers.

A court in Uttar Pradesh state was told that rats had apparently eaten through the entire haul of drugs when it asked police to provide it as evidence. 

‘Rats are tiny animals and they have no fear of the police. It’s difficult to protect the drug from them,’ the court said, according to BBC News.

Rats and mice have been blamed in India for the disappearance of drugs seized by police recently (stock image)

Judge Sanjay Chaudhary also cited other cases in which vanishing drug stashes in the state’s district of Mathura were blamed on rodents by police.

In one example, part of a massive 850lbs of cannabis held in storage by police vanished, with hungry rats taking the blame for its disappearance.

The judge said that police had no way to deal with ravenous rodents, as the animals are ‘too small’. 

He also suggested that to protect seized drugs from ‘fearless mice’, hauls should be auctioned to labs and medicine manufacturers, with the government keeping the proceeds.

In a plot twist, a senior Mathura police official said that some of the missing cannabis had been ‘damaged due to heavy rains,’ and not touched by mice or rats.

Rodents have been blamed for various incidents in India over the years.

In 2018, rats nibbled through more than £13,000 worth of banknotes after busting into a cash machine in India.

And the same year, a three-storey house collapsed after rats burrowed into its foundations, almost killing a family of eight who had left just hours earlier. 

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