Alert against illegal drills

KOCHI: Illegal armed drills are being conducted by various bodies at various parts of the city, according to intelligence reports.The police have been alerted to conduct checks against the martial art organisations and institutions that conduct drills without licence from police.Police said that each Circle Inspector in the city has been given the directive to keep a  tab on organistions training students in Karate/ Kalari on the use of arms and ammunition.  “The alert was sounded this week to all police stations in the city. The special branch has said that several persons and organistions are conducting armed training without taking the consent from police. Even though some of the organistions initially took the licence from the police, they failed to renew it. The Circle Inspectors have been asked to submit the report on the basis of the inspection. There are also possibilities that some of these trainings are conducted for extremist activities,” sources said.Any institution that provides training in any kind of martial arts should first get the permit from the police. “At first, the licence is given after remitting `1000, and it is renewed on payment of `500. There are over 50 such organisations in the city and several teachers who take classes in martial arts in schools and colleges,” an official in Special Branch said.According to Tommy Sebastian, Special Branch Assistant Commissioner, the alert is primarily intended to monitor illegal martial art organistions. As of now there has not been any reports of arms drill conducted by extremist outfits so far,” he said.