Punjab Police says 79,000 traffickers arrested during anti-drug campaign

Chandigarh, Sep 14 (PTI) Punjab Police arrested more than 79,000 drug smugglers and recovered over 3,800 kg heroin since the launch of the anti-drug campaign, "Yudh Nashian Virudh", an officials said.

The police registered 60,582 FIRs and arrested 79,784 drug smugglers, including 708 big fish involved in 354 commercial-scale cases, with each case involving recoveries of over 2 kg of heroin, since the launch of Yudh Nashian Virudh on March 1, last year, DGP Gaurav Yadav said while addressing the media here.

Sharing details, he said, till September 10, 2026, the overall drug recoveries touched a record 3,803 kg of heroin, 976 kg of opium, 46 tonnes of poppy husk, 1,325 kg of ganja, and 78 lakh intoxicant capsules/tablets.

Punjab accounts for approximately 60 per cent of India's total heroin recovery, he said.

Accompanied by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he highlighted the impact of professional and scientific investigation and said, "Professional and scientific investigations spearheaded by the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) have elevated Punjab's conviction rate to 89 per cent, setting a benchmark across India. As many as 13,430 NDPS cases were decided since March 1, 2025, with convictions secured in 11,981 of them."

The ANTF operational model has also drawn national praise, with ANTF, Additional Director General of Police, Nilabh Kishore recently addressing Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), Hyderabad, on combating drug trafficking and how professional investigation helped in increasing the conviction rate.

Choking the financial conduits of the illicit drug trade, Yadav said, "Properties worth Rs 366 crore were frozen across 914 cases approved by the competent authority under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act."

He added, "Concurrently, police nabbed 102 hawala operatives and recovered Rs 11 crore in hawala funds."

Highlighting the use of cutting-edge technology and community partnership, Yadav said, "Punjab was the first state to deploy the Artificial Intelligence-driven Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS), executing 4.60 crore searches leading to arrest of 4 lakh accused."

He further said, "Under the Chief Minister's reward policy, Rs 3.33 crore has been disbursed to as many as 2,362 civilians and police personnel for actionable intelligence and drone intercept recoveries."

Divulging details of action against terrorists from March 16, 2022 to September 11, 2026, he said, "The Counter Intelligence wing has busted 92 terror modules and apprehended 686 terrorists."

He said the Counter Intelligence wing has recovered 54 rifles, 599 revolvers/pistols, 38 Tiffin IEDs/IEDs, 28.887 kg RDX and other explosives, 131 hand grenades, 6 RPGs (with launchers) alongside 3 sleeves, while 952 drones were intercepted out of 1,493 sightings.

A total of 43 terror attacks were reported since September 2024, and all the cases have been solved in record time, while nine claims of attacks proved to be hoaxes or entirely fabricated, he informed.

The Counter Intelligence wing averted major terror attacks by preemptively neutralising as many as 53 terror modules, he added.