Nearly 200kg of cannabis that had been taken from criminals and stored in police stations was reportedly destroyed by rats, according to reports from Indian police.
Judge Sanjay Chaudhary said in an order that when the court asked the police to produce the seized drug as evidence, it was told that 195kg of cannabis had been “destroyed” by rats.
A statement read to the court said: “Rats are tiny animals and they have no fear of the police. It’s difficult to protect the drug from them.”
The judge cited three cases in which marijuana was destroyed by rodents.
Judge Chaudhary told the court around 700kg of marijuana seized by the police was lying in police stations in Mathura district and that “all of it was under danger of infestation by rats”.
He said the police had no expertise in dealing with the matter as the rats were “too small”.
“The only way to protect the seized goods from such fearless mice was to auction the drugs to research labs and medicine firms, with the proceeds going to the government,” he said.
