15 MONTHS OF DECISIVE WAR AGAINST DRUGS: PUNJAB POLICE ARREST 3003 BIG FISH AMONG 20979 DRUG SMUGGLERS; 1658-KG HEROIN RECOVERED

The Voice of Chandigarh :

With the decisive war against drugs waged on the directions of Chief Minister Punjab Bhagwant Singh Mann to root out the menace of drugs from state has completed 15 months, Punjab Police have arrested as many as 20979 drug smugglers including 3003 big fish since July 5, 2022. The Police have registered a total of 15434 first information reports (FIRs) of which 1864 are related to commercial quantity.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, who was addressing a Press Conference here on Monday, said that the Police teams have recovered 1510.55-Kg Heroin from across the state after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state. Additionally, 147.5-Kg heroin was recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from Seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 1658.05 kg in just 15 months, he said.

Apart from seizing big-haul of heroin, the IGP said that Police have also recovered 924.29-Kg opium, 986.06-Kg Ganja, 470.91 quintals of poppy husk, and 92.03 lakhs tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids from across the state. The Police have also recovered Rs 15.81 crores of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested in the last 15 months.

He said that Punjab Police have also forfeited properties of 111 big smugglers worth Rs 88.3 crores in these 15 months. The district Jalandhar Rural remains on top by forfeiting properties worth Rs 40.3 crores, followed by, district Tarn Taran, which confiscated properties worth Rs 12.06 crores and Ferozepur seized properties worth Rs 6.16 crores, he said.

Giving a weekly update, the IGP said that in the last one week, the police have arrested 260 drug smugglers/suppliers after registering 185 first information reports (FIRs), including 21 commercial, and recovered 15.82-Kg Heroin, 6.13-Kg opium, 6.38 quintals of poppy husk, and 43388 tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 4.11 lakh drug money from their possession.

He said that with 13 more Proclaimed Offenders (POs)/Absconders in NDPS cases arrested in the last one week, the total number of arrests reached 1111 since the special drive to arrest POs/absconders was started on July 5, 2022.

Apart from this, IGP Sukhchain Singh Gill said that the Punjab Police have not been leaving any stone unturned to improve the law and order situation in the state.

The official data revealed that the Punjab Police have busted 31 terror modules with the arrest of 197 terrorists/radicals since the CM Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab government came into the power and recovered 32 Rifles, 222 Revolvers/Pistols, 9 Tiffin Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), 10.86Kg RDX and other explosives, 11 Hand Grenades, two sleeves of disposed Rocket Launcher, 73 Drones, and one loaded Rocket Propelled Grenade from their possession.

Similarly, the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), since its formation on April 6, 2022, has succeeded in busting 249 gangster/criminal modules after arresting 800 gangsters/criminals and neutralising six, after recovering 839 weapons, 171 vehicles used in criminal activities.

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 meagre amount of drugs.