IEP CHANDIGARH, January 16
Amid the ongoing decisive war against drugs launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police have arrested 258 drug smugglers/suppliers after registering 194 first information reports (FIRs), including 31 commercial, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act across the state in the last week. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, while addressing his weekly Press Conference here on Monday, said that the Police have also recovered 41.26-Kg Heroin, 13.55-Kg opium, 53.25-Kg Ganja, 4.81 quintals of poppy husk, and 5.28 Lakh tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 20.48 Lakh drug money from their possession. He said that with 15 more Proclaimed Offenders (POs)/Absconders in NDPS cases arrested in the last week, the total number of arrests reached 623 since the special drive to arrest POs/absconders was started on July 5, 2022. The IGP said that Punjab Police have taken strict action taken against sellers trading in Chinese Kite string and recovered as many as 10269 Chinese dor bundles after registering 176 First Information Reports (FIRs) and arresting 188 people indulged in selling this fatal kite flying string. As per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police will take strict action against those buying/selling Chinese kite flying string, he added. Pertinently, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab Gaurav Yadav had given strict instructions to all the CPs/SSPs to investigate backward and forward linkages minutely in each and every case, especially related to drug recoveries, even if they recover a meager amount of drugs. Meanwhile, on the direction of Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Mann to make Punjab a drug-free state, extensive anti-drug drives have been launched by the Punjab Police to combat the menace of drugs from the border State. The DGP has also strictly ordered all the CPs/SSPs to identify all hotspots where drugs are prevalent and all top drug smugglers in their jurisdictions. 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.
