CHANDIGARH, May 15:
With the ongoing war against drugs “Yudh Nashian Virudh” waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to eradicate drug menace from state entered 75th day, Punjab Police on Thursday conducted a cordon and search operation (CASO) at Bus Stands across the state.
The operation was carried out in all the 28 Police districts on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
Special Director General of Police (Special DGP) Law and Order Arpit Shukla, who was personally monitoring this state-level operation, said that all the CPs/SSPs were asked to ensure heavy deployment of police force under the supervision of Superintendent of Police (SP) rank officers to make this operation successful.
He said that suspicious persons were checked during the operation conducted at around all the bus stands in the state.
Apart from this, Police teams have continued its drive against drugs and conducted raids at 486 locations on Thursday leading to the arrest of 124 drug smugglers after registration of 83 first information reports (FIRs) across the state. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 11,208 within 75 days.
The Special DGP said that the raids have resulted in recovery of 4.02 kg heroin, 2.5 kg opium and Rs 27090 drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers.
He informed that over 200 Police teams, comprising over 1200 police personnel, under the supervision of 87 gazetted officers have conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 481 suspicious persons during the day long operation.
As part of the drive against drugs, in Gurdaspur, a bulldozer was used to raze the houses of two drug smugglers, identified as Baljinder and Lakhwinder, constructed illegally on the land of Water Resource Department at their village Dida Sansia. On this occasion, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gurdaspur Aaditya said that both the accused, whose house were demolished, has a criminal background with accused Baljinder facing 10 FIRs under NDPS act and Excise Act, and accused Lakhwinder facing 12 FIRs under the NDPS Act and Excise Act.
The Special DGP said that Punjab Police has devised a comprehensive strategy and such operations will be continued till the scourge of drugs eradicated from the state.
He 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 116 persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment.
Meanwhile, Punjab Police has also carried out search operation at different jails in six districts— Commissionerate Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar Rural, Kapurthala and Rupnagar— to check any illegal activities in the jail. “Our Police teams have thoroughly searched every nook and corner including barracks, kitchen and toilets in the jail complex,” said Special DGP Arpit Shukla.
