CHANDIGARH, March 18:
With the war against drugs “Yudh Nashian Virudh” waged by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to eradicate drug menace from state entered 18th day, Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested 95 drug smugglers and recovered 11 kg heroin, 7.5 kg opium and ₹31000 drug money from their possession. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 2231 in just 18 days.
The operation was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav simultaneously in all 28 Police districts of the state.
Notably, CM Bhagwant Singh Mann has asked the Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab drug free state. The Punjab government has also constituted a 5-member Cabinet Sub Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.
Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla said that the Punjab Police’s intensive fight against drugs is gaining momentum, with a significant show of public support. He informed that, as part of the “Yudh Nashian Virudh” campaign, Malerkotla Police jointly with Civil Administration has organised a Sampark meeting at village Ferozpur Kothala, PS Sandaur, where 40 panchayats have passed a resolution to jointly combating the drug menace and fostering a stronger police-public partnership.
Divulging details, Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla informed that over 250 Police teams, comprising over 1600 police personnel, under the supervision of 97 gazetted officers have conducted raids at as many as 539 locations across the state leading to the registration of 61 first information reports (FIRs) across the state. Police teams have also checked as many as 599 suspicious persons during the day long operation, he added.
The Special DGP said that with the state government has enforced a three-pronged strategy— Enforcement, Deaddiction and Prevention (EDP)— to eradicate drugs from the state, the Punjab Police as part of ‘De-addiction’ has convinced six persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment, while, organised 137 awareness events across the state as part of Prevention.
