Dehradun is fast turning into a hub of narcotics with their peddlers supplying them to the most vulnerable section of the society-the students and the youths with impunity.
This is what the statistics provided by city police have revealed. In the week- long drive launched against drug peddling, Dehradun police have arrested 23 persons on the charge of supplying drugs among the students and the youths in the district.
The drive kicked off on December 8 under various police stations of the city. Three kg of hashish, 5.6 kg of poppy husk, 1.5 kg of ganja and 15 gram of smack were recovered from the possession of 23 accused during the drive, said Dehradun SSP Dr Sadanand Date on Thursday. The peddlers have their eyes trained on the large number of students, now studying in educational institutions that have come up in considerable number in Dalanwala, Raipur, Doiwala, Premnagar and Rajpur areas in the State capital. They also allegedly supply the contrabands to the places these students are residing in on rent.
Police said that the accused were arrested under Section 8/20 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and were sent to Suddhowala jail after being produced in the court.
Reports revealed that a total of 390 grams of hashish were recovered from areas under Kotwali police station limit while the figure is 380 from areas under Rajpur police station limit. Besides, seven grams of smack, 390 grams of hashish and 1.5 kilograms ganja were recovered from Premnagar police station limit and seven grams of smack and 280 grams of hashish were seized from Nehru Colony.
This aside, 340 grams of hashish were recovered from Doiwala, 370 grams of the same from Kasi, 460 grams of hashish and 5.6 kg of poppy husk from Raiwala and 390 grams of hashish from Patelnagar police station limit.
Moreover, Dehradun police arrested a youth Paras Kapoor alias Killer, resident of Niswila Road, Kotwali and recovered 3.90 grams of smack and 40 grams of hashish from his possession on Wednesday. In course of interrogation, the accused admitted his offence and said that he had been selling these contrabands among the school and college- going youths. Each pouch of such narcotics costs around `1, 000 or `1, 500. The accused was arrested under NDPS Act by the police from Kotwali.
SP City Ajay Singh said the drive would continue in the city in the coming days. “This aside, teams formed at police station levels are on their toes to stop sale of narcotics and drugs. We are trying to stop smuggling of the same from neighbouring districts too,” he said. Several crimes reported from Dehradun have revealed a chilling trend of school and college- going students, given to substances, perpetrating them. Cases of the school students committing crimes like murder, burglary, theft and chain snatching are happening frequently. Such a trend assuming grim contours with passing time has left the State government and the society deeply worried, says an observer.
Welcoming the drive launched by police to curb the trend, the observers say that these should continue till the menace is eliminated. “The importance of saving the younger generation from the lure of narcotics and drugs is paramount, for unless it is stopped the nation would face peril to its continued robust existence,” says one of the observers.