In the four months of decisive war against drugs, the Punjab Police have arrested as many as 6,997 drug smugglers, including 1097 big fish, since July 5, 2022 registering 5,346 FIRs (first information reports) of which 580 are related to commercial quantity.
Sharing the information, the state Inspector General of Police (IGP), Headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill on Monday said that the Police teams have recovered 259.7 kg heroin from across the State after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the State.
Additionally, 147.5 kg heroin was recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 406.5 kgs in just four months, he said.
Apart from seizing big-haul of heroin, the IGP said that Police have also recovered 300 kg opium, 197.2 kg ganja, 293 quintals of poppy husk, and 27.56 lakhs tablets, capsules, injections or vials of pharma opioids from across the State.
The Police have also recovered Rs 4.49 crores of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested in these four months, said IGP Gill while addressing his weekly press conference.
Giving fortnightly update, the IGP said that in last two weeks, the police have arrested 508 drug smugglers or suppliers after registering 399 FIRs, including 54 commercial, and recovered 26.5 kg heroin, 17 kg opium, 13.8 kg ganja, 19 quintals of poppy husk, and 1.20 lakh tablets, capsules, injections or vials of Pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 4.5 lakh drug money from their possession.
“With seven more Proclaimed Offenders (POs) or absconders in NDPS cases arrested in the last two weeks, the total number of arrests reached 383 since the special drive to arrest POs or absconders was started on July 5, 2022,” he said.
Pertinently, the state Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav had given strict instructions to all the Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) to investigate backward and forward linkages minutely in each and every case, especially related to drug recoveries, even if they recover a meager amount of drugs.
Meanwhile, on the direction of the Chief Minister to make Punjab a drug-free state, extensive anti-drug drives have been launched by the Punjab Police to combat the menace of drugs from the border State. The DGP has also strictly ordered all the CPs and SSPs to identify all hotspots where drugs are prevalent and all top drug smugglers in their jurisdictions.
He also directed the Police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered.