Punjab: Five veterinary officers dismissed
In a bold move to address negligence and absenteeism, Punjab Animal Husbandry Department on Thursday terminated the services of five veterinary officers with immediate effect.
As part of the special drive against drugs in two months, the Punjab Police arrested about 4,223 drug smugglers including 562 big fish since 5 July.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill, on Tuesday, announced the data while addressing his weekly press conference. “The police have registered a total of 3,236 first information reports (FIRs) (in the drug cases) of which 328 are related to commercial quantity (of drug),” he informed.
Gill highlighted that police teams have managed to recover 175 kg of heroin 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 of heroin was also recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from the seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 322.5 kg in just two months.
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Apart from seizing a big haul of heroin, the IGP said police have also recovered 167 kg opium, 145 kg Ganja, 222 quintals of poppy husk, and 16.90 lakhs tablets, injections, and vials of pharma opioids from different locations in the state. The Police have also recovered Rs 2.73 Crores of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested in these two months.
Last week, the police arrested 418 drug smugglers after registering 326 FIRs including 42 related to commercial quantity. They recovered 48 kg heroin, 24Kg opium, 21 kg ganja, nine quintals of poppy husk, and 85,374 tablets of pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 13.78 lakhs of drug money, he said.
Gill said with 16 more proclaimed offenders (POs)/Absconders in NDPS cases arrested this week, the total number of arrests reached 263 since the special drive to arrest POs/absconders was started on July 5, 2022.
He further mentioned that Bhagwant Mann Government has given Punjab Police a free hand and full liberty to wage war against drugs, and extensive anti-drug drives have been launched to combat the menace of drugs from the border state of Punjab.
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