The state Police force, in two inter-state operations, conducted the previous week, has managed to effectively recover 147.5 kg heroin from other states including Gujarat and Maharashtra. “These two recoveries are in addition to the 7.89 kg heroin recovered in Punjab the previous week, taking the commutative quantity of heroin to 155.39 kg,” said the state Inspector General of Police (IGP), Headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill on Monday.
Notably, in a joint operation with Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on July 12, Punjab Police recovered 75 kg heroin from a container at Mundra Port in Gujarat. In a similar operation with Maharashtra Police on July 15, 72.5 kg heroin was recovered from a container at the Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai.
IGP Gill, addressing his weekly press conference on drug recovery, said that with the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann having given the Punjab Police a free hand and full liberty to wage war against drugs, extensive anti-drug drives have been launched to combat the menace of drugs from the border State of Punjab.
Apart from recovering a big haul of heroin, the Police have also recovered Rs 16.29 lakhs of drug money, 15 kg opium, 37 kg ganja, 16 quintals of poppy husk, and 64,000 intoxicant pills or capsules among other drugs after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the State.
As many as 10 proclaimed offenders (Pos) and absconders in NDPS cases have also been arrested in the past week, he added.
Talking about the trends in drug smuggling, IGP Gill said that to prevent themselves from arrest, drug smugglers nowadays are preferring to smuggle the drug ‘on foot’. “Drug smugglers also prefer to sell drugs in small quantities to ensure that even if they are caught, their case should not be considered as commercial. Instead of concealing drug consignments at their houses, they have been using ponds and fields as safe storage for concealing drugs to avoid recovery during raids,” he said.
IGP said that following the disclosures of the arrested drug smugglers that the supply of drugs is either from the area of villages Shanni-Beli in Himachal Pradesh, adjoining Pathankot or from neighbouring Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, border district SSPs have been asked to work in closer coordination with these neighbouring state Police.
“A new modus operandi was also noticed in Malerkotla where a drug smuggler, identified as Rohit Sahi alias Goldy of Amargarh, camouflaged in Army uniform was found selling heroin. Police had also recovered 50 grams heroin from his car,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav has strictly ordered all the Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) to further tighten the noose around the drug smugglers by identifying all top drug smugglers and the hotspots infamous for drug smuggling in their jurisdictions and launching a combing operation to nab all those selling or smuggling drugs.
He also directed the district police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered.