The special task force (STF) of Haryana Police set up to deal with organised crimes has apprehended 105 most wanted criminals, 22 other rewarded offenders involved in heinous crime and seized huge quantities of illicit arms as well as narcotics during the year 2020.
Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Yadava on Sunday said that the STF had launched a massive crackdown on criminal elements and organized gangs. The arrested 22 rewarded offenders carried the rewards ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh.
Sharing the names of some notorious criminals, the DGP said that the STF has arrested most wanted criminals with rewards on their heads like Raju Basodi, Rajesh Rakbar, Ashok alias Soki and Imran, Sohit Rancho, Manish Baba and Vicky Garg. Haryana Police had declared a collective reward of more than Rs 10 lakh on their arrest.
One of the arrested criminal, Raju Basodi was an absconding accused in more than 30 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery etc. He was operating his gang from Thailand, he said.
Due to continuous fear and pressure of the STF unit, most offenders and dreaded criminals opt to stay out of Haryana, the DGP pointed out.
He further said that the STF has achieved big milestones while busting the network of drug peddlers in 2020. It has arrested 162 criminals after seizing a huge cache of narcotics from them.
Giving details about the seizure of narcotics, the DGP said that police had seized 9 kg 100 gram of heroin, 52 kg 384 gram opium, 60 kg 200 gram charas, over 4141 kg poppy husk, 1.259 kg smack, 2371 kg ganja or ganja leaf, 5375 injections of drugs, over 1.49 lakh prohibited pharma tablets and 5839 cartons of liquor.
Apart from this, the STF sleuths have also arrested 77 persons and recovered 81 illegal pistols, revolvers and 320 cartridges from them, |he added.
The DGP further mentioned that STF had also identified a number of most wanted criminals who were carrying out criminal activities in Haryana and neighbouring states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.