Punjab Police have arrested 353 drug smugglers after registering 271 first information reports (FIRs) including 33 commercial, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Ac across the state in the last one week.
Addressing a press conference, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill on Monday said that the police have also recovered 11.56 kilogram (kg) heroin, 13.51 kg opium, 900 grams ganja, eight quintals of poppy husk and 88014 tablets, capsule injections and vials of Pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 20 lakh drug money after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state.
He said that with 11 more Proclaimed Offenders (POs) in NDPS Act cases arrested this week, the total number of arrests reached 376 since the special drive to arrest Pos and absconders was started on July 5.
Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav had given strict instructions to all the CPs and SSPs to investigate backward and forward linkages minutely in each and every case, especially related to drug recoveries, even if they recover a meagre amount of drugs.
Meanwhile, on the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to make Punjab a drug-free state, extensive anti-drug drives have been launched by the Punjab Police to combat the menace of drugs from the border state.
The DGP has also strictly ordered to identify all hotspots where drugs are prevalent and all top drug smugglers in their jurisdictions. He has also directed the police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered, said Gill.