Hookahs seized from 2 cafes; 7 held in Bangalore

Continuing the crackdown on hookah parlours, South-East division of city police raided 35 hotels on Monday and found that two hotels were serving hookah to the customers, including minors.

The police arrested seven persons and seized hookah and paraphernalia from Sufi Cafe and Cape Town Cafe at Koramangala 5th Block. A senior police officer said that they were keeping an eye on the 35 hotels that were raided for a long time.

He said the police were taking a note of the age of the customers visiting these places. Ten hookahs and 10 flavoured tobacco packets were seized from Sufi Cafe, located in the building of Hotel Empire. Five hookahs and 10 flavoured tobacco packets were seized from Cape Town Cafe, at NBC Hotel. The arrested include the suppliers of the hookahs and the managers of the two joints.

They have been booked under India Tobacco Control Act, BBMP Act and Karnataka Police Act. Koramangala police inspector S Sudheera said the owner of Sufi Cafe, Mohd Karim, was absconding and the police were on the lookout for him. He said the owner of Cape Town Cafe lives in Kerala and the police had made arrangements to take him into custody.