With a zero tolerance approach against drugs, the Delhi Police has arrested more than a 1,000 narco offenders, including both high and low level drug traffickers, with recovery of large quantities of drugs till September 1 this year including 74 arrests made in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
“The Delhi Police has arrested 961 narco-offenders in 695 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases and recovered about 65.086 kilograms of heroin and smack, 1.912 kilograms of cocaine, 2258.379 kilograms of ganja, 102.345 kilograms of opium, 42.606 kilograms of charas and 73.06 kilograms of poppy head till August 31 this year,” a senior police officer said.
He added that while continuing drives against drug traffickers and suppliers active in Delhi, the police is taking very stringent action against drug mafias through different operations like “Operation Kavach” conducting focused and regular operations against the drugs trafficking networks.
Further, the police made raids in 325 places in 15 districts of the city under "zero tolerance policy" and for the implementation of “Operation Kavach-5.O”. “During these raids, 74 narco-offenders have been arrested in 66 NDPS cases with recovery of large quantities of drugs. During the operation, about 108.93 grams of Heroin, 66.28 kilograms of Ganja, 1100 grams Charas, 16 Grams MDMA have been recovered,” another police officer added.
Apart from this, total 54 cases of Delhi Excise Act also registered with arrest of 54 accused persons and recovered 78 bottles, 24 beer, 5089 quarters of illicit liquor and 01 Scooty being used in bootlegging.
Operation Kavach was launched all over Delhi in the month of May, 2023 to focus on identifying and apprehending individuals involved in the trafficking and distribution of narcotics. “During this operation, it was decided to target both street-level dealers and high-level traffickers and to have both top to bottom and bottom to top approach to effectively counter drug trafficking,” he said, adding that till now, total four operations under Kavach have been conducted and during these operations, significant quantity of drugs was seized with the arrest of many drug offenders.
During these operations, both street-level dealers and high-level traffickers were targetted, and to have both top to bottom and bottom to top approach to effectively counter drug trafficking. These multiple raids during these Operations under Kavach have unsettled the peddlers dealing in drugs and caused a terror in their minds of surprise raids, resulting in no sale for a few days and then input of less quantity of contraband in the areas.
The police also did a ground level survey which revealed that most of the big drug traffickers have become underground because of the surprise police action. “Now, major players are avoiding bringing commercial quantities to Delhi. It is believed that they have made storehouses outside the city. Busting of a Nigerian racket with a large quantity of contraband by Noida Police strengthens the belief. Ganja used to be mainly brought in large quantities through trucks. Now, they are shifting to sending in smaller quantities through cars, trains,” the police said in a statement.
