CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police claimed to have arrested 676 drug smugglers after registering 559 first information reports (FIRs) under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act across the state in the past seven days.
Punjab Police official spokesperson Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing a press conference at the force’s headquarters in Chandigarh, stated that Punjab Police had been given a free hand and full liberty to wage war against drugs and extensive anti-drug drives were being launched to eradicate the menace of drugs from the border state.
The spokesperson shared the police have recovered 5.57kg heroin, 17kg opium, 25kg ganja, 7 quintals of poppy husk, and 2.25 lakh intoxicant pills/capsules among other drugs during carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas beside laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state. As many as 32 proclaimed offenders and absconders in NDPS cases have also been arrested in the past week, he added.
He said that the DGP strictly ordered all the CPs/SSPs to identify all top drug smugglers and the hotspots infamous for drug smuggling in their jurisdictions and to launch a combing operation to nab all those selling/smuggling drugs. He also directed the police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered. The DGP has also asked other CPs/SSPs to initiate ways to connect with people at the ground-root level and sensitize them about the ill effects of the drugs.