Cracking the whip on the drugs in the state, Punjab police have arrested as many as 565 drug smugglers and suppliers in the past one week, registering 453 FIRs, including 34 for commercial quantity, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act across the State.
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.
Gill, addressing his weekly press conference on drug recovery, said that 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.