Drug trade appears to be widespread in the State considering the 1000 persons arrested on the charge of supplying contraband during the previous year in different parts of the State. The police recovered various narcotics amouting to Rs 10.44 crore from the offenders during the same time period.
Observers opined that statistics on narcotics and other controlled substances in the state are alarming. Due to factors like mushrooming of higher education institutions and the resulting spurt in the number of youth living away from their families have fuelled trends like substance abuse especially in the recent years. A senior police officer informed that continuing drive against drug peddling, policemen of the various districts of the state have recovered 276.7 kg hashish, 18.46 kg smack, 268.1 kg poppy husk, 24527 tablets, 20633 capsules, 10701 injectable drugs, 670.82 kg ganja, 0.8 kg heroin, 1.8 kg bhang, 28.26 opium and 98 lSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) blotting papers from the possession of the offenders during 2017. A total of 1037 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in various police stations while 1091 persons involved in supplying contraband were sent to jail after being produced in the court in the districts concerned.
Statistics provided by the police headquarters reveal that the provisional State capital -Dehradun is fast turning into a hub of narcotics with the peddlers supplying them to various segments of society from students to older adults from varying socio-economic backgrounds. This is what the statistics provided by city police have revealed. A total of 561 persons involved in supplying drugs have been arrested during 2017 after registration of 556 cases under appropriate sections of the NDPS Act in the various police stations of the state. Police recovered contraband in large quantity worth Rs 7.07 crore from the possession of the offenders in Dehradun during the same time period.
In Haridwar, 53 cases of NDPS were registered and 56 accused were arrested while drugs worth Rs 24.36 lakh were recovered from the offenders.
In Nainital, 87 cases of NDPS Act were registered and 87 persons were arrested while contraband worth Rs 55.58 lakh was recovered from them. In Udham Singh Nagar, 153 cases related to NDPS Act have been registered while 177 accused arrested and contraband worth Rs 67.14 lakh were recovered. In the mountainous districts, comparatively fewer cases have been registered related to NDPS Act.
In Uttarkashi, 28 cases related to NDPS Act have been registered while 41 persons were arrested and drugs worth Rs 39.20 lakh were recovered from them. In Tehri, 16 cases related to NDPS were registered while 18 accused were arrested and contraband worth Rs 5.36 lakh was recovered. In Chamoli, 14 cases of NDPS Act have been registered and 15 accused were arrested while drugs worth Rs 14.64 lakh were recovered from them.
In Pauri, 62 cases related to NDPS Act were registered and 62 persons were arrested while contraband worth Rs 16.69 lakhs were recovered from the offenders.
In Almora, 27 cases of NDPS Act have been registered and 32 accused arrested while contraband worth Rs 14.70 lakh were recovered.
In Bageshwar, seven cases related to NDPS Act have been registered while seven accused were arrested while drugs worth Rs 14.02 lakh were recovered from the offenders.
In Pithoragarh, three cases of NDPS Act were registered and three persons were arrested while drugs worth Rs 1.95 lakh were recovered from them.
In Champawat, 28 cases of NDPS Act have been registered while 29 accused were arrested and drugs worth Rs 82.46 lakh were recovered.
Government Railway Police (GRP) registered three cases of NDPS Act and three persons involved in it were arrested while drugs worth registered1.10 lakh were recovered from offenders.