Haryana Police has seized 22.5 tonnes of narcotic substances and arrested more than 3000 drug peddlers in 2020.

Disclosing this on Tuesday, Director General of Police (DGP), Manoj Yadava said that Police have filed a total of 3024 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in 2020, as against the 2645 cases registered in 2019.

The quantity of drugs seized also increased by 41.53 per cent in 2020 as compared to the previous year. A total of 22569 kg of opium, charas, sulpha, poppy husk, smack, ganja and heroin were confiscated between January and December 2020.

Giving details about the drug-wise seizure, he said that 225 kilogram (kg) opium, 250 kg charas/sulpha, over 12828 kg poppy husk, eight kg 253 gram smack, over 9223 kg ganja and 33 kg 198 gram heroin was seized.

The DGP said to prevent drug trafficking, police have been working relentlessly to curb drug menace. “It is because of our team’s efforts as well as increased inter-state cooperation for exchange of information that the number of arrests has increased this year compared to last year,” he said.

“We have adopted a multipronged approach that resulted in seizure of such a large amount of narcotic substances. Our field units including the Special Task Force have dismantled the potential supply of almost all types of narcotics in the state. The crackdown was made in line with the government’s commitment to make Haryana a drug-free state”, Yadava added.

The maximum cases, 713, under NDPS Act were registered in Sirsa, followed by 326 in Fatehabad, 224 in Gurugram, 164 in Kaithal, 162 in Hisar, 157 in Rohtak and 131 in Panipat. “There is no place for drugs in our society. We will continue to speed up our operations against drug traffickers and drug cartels to save the people especially youth from drug menace. Besides, special campaigns are being organized to make the youth aware of the ill effects of drug addiction,” he added.

Yadava also urged people to supplement the police efforts in tightening the noose on those involved in drug peddling by sharing information about sale, consumption and use of drugs at mobile number 7087089947, toll-free number 1800-180- 1314 and landline number 01733-253023.