India police claim rats ate 500 kilos of confiscated marijuana

After a local court in India's city of Mathura in the state of Uttar Pradesh instructed the police to produce over 500 kilograms of marijuana confiscated from drug dealers in two different cases, the police claimed that rats ate all 500 kilos of the drug.

The cannabis that the officials were unable to furnish was stored in police warehouses which the police said are infested by rats.

"There is no place in the police station where the stored goods can be saved from the rats. The remaining marijuana from the huge consignment was destroyed by officers," the police prosecutor told the court, local Indian media reported.

The prosecutor also said that rats were "not scared of police" as they are small animals. The cannabis was supposed to be used as evidence in a case being overlooked by the court.

According to court documents, more than 700 kilos of marijuana that was stored across the city of Mathura was under threat of being destroyed by rats.

As per a CNN report, apparently, this was not the first time that rats had attacked evidence. The court judge cited another incident where rodents ingested over 500 kg of the drug seized in various cases and stored at the city’s Shergarh and Highway Police Station.

The court then asked the police officials to auction or dispose of the marijuana and laid down guidelines for them.

“There’s a rat menace in almost all police stations. Hence, necessary arrangements need to be made to safeguard the cannabis that’s been confiscated,” CNN quoted the court document.

However, the whole story of the rats consuming the drugs seems a little hazy.

Mathura City Police Superintendent Martand Prakash Singh told the outlet after the court case that the seized drugs were ruined by "rains and flooding".

He added that the report submitted to the court did not mention rats anywhere and that the police had only told the court that " cannabis was destroyed in the rains and flooding."