As part of its ongoing drive against the drug menace, Punjab Police on Thursday said it conducted raids at 501 locations, leading to the arrest of 75 drug smugglers.
They said 53 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered across the state. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 622 in just six days.
The raids resulted in recovery of 8.2 kg heroin, 4.5 kg opium, 1,294 intoxicant tablets or injections and Rs 1.04 lakh cash from the possession of arrested drug smugglers.
The operation was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav in all districts of the state.
Last week, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had set a deadline of three months to make the state drug-free. As part of the state government`s renewed push against the drug problem, action was being taken against drug peddlers and in some places, their properties were also demolished.
The state government also formed a cabinet sub-committee to monitor action against the drug menace.
Special Director General of Police Arpit Shukla said over 250 police teams, comprising over 1,700 police personnel conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 635 suspicious persons during the day long operation.
The Special DGP said the state government has enforced a three-pronged strategy — enforcement, de-addiction and prevention (EDP) — to eradicate drugs from the state.
Meanwhile, the Amritsar Corporation with the support of the Punjab Police, demolished two-storied houses and shops constructed by drug traffickers.
Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the demolished properties belonged to two notorious drug traffickers, Gurmeet Singh and Sandeep Singh alias Sonu.
Three cases have been registered against Gurmeet Singh, with 325 grams of smack and 350 grams of heroin recovered.
Sandeep has four cases registered against him, including three at Sarai Amanat Khan and cases of Anti-Narcotics Force Mohali.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said no one involved in this scourge or attempting to shield offenders will be spared, regardless of their position or influence.
Cheema, who is leading the cabinet sub-committee on the drug menace, said the state government has a zero-tolerance policy against individuals involved in drug trafficking.
Cheema visited districts Rupnagar, SBS Nagar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Tarn Taran.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Leave a Reply