392 drug peddlers held in Punjab in last 3 days, says DGP

Under a week-long drive against the drug menace in the state, Punjab Police have arrested 392 persons after registering 283 FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act.

The week-long drive commenced on February 25, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta.

Under this drive, police have recovered heroin as well as other drugs after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug affected areas beside laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state. The police have also arrested 15 Proclaimed Offenders (POs) of NDPS cases during these three days.

"The Punjab Police had set a new record by seizing over 700 kgs heroin worth Rs 3500 crores in the international market and confiscating property worth Rs 101 crores after arresting over 10,000 drug smugglers in year 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic," Gupta said.

He informed that the massive crackdown on drugs not only led to break the supply chain of drugs but also resulted in decline in drug related deaths as only 19 drug related deaths were reported last year in comparison to the years 2019 and 2018, which had witnessed 47 and 111 drug related deaths respectively.

Under the current anti-drug drive, the Tarn Taran Police carried out a mammoth exercise based on technical collection, data crunching and human intelligence to identify areas notorious for drug smuggling and recovered 1.39 kg heroin and a large number of intoxicant tablets in just 3 days.

Similarly, the Amritsar Rural Police have recovered drug money worth Rs 89 lakhs besides impounding one pistol and 25 cartridges while the Jalandhar Commissionerate Police have recovered 6.23 kg opium, 4.50 quintal poppy husk, 237 grams heroin and 4.7 kg ganja.

( With inputs from ANI )