Punjab Police have arrested over 19 thousand drug smugglers including 2778 ‘big fish’ in the past 14 months.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill said the police have registered a total of 14,179 first information reports (FIRs) of which 1717 are related to commercial quantity.
He said the police teams have recovered over 1400 kilogram heroin from across the state after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state.
This apart, over 147 kg heroin was recovered by the teams of Punjab Police from seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 1548.27 kg in just 14 months, Gill said. The IGP said police teams have recovered around 240 Kg heroin from across the state just in the month of August,” he added.
Apart from seizing big-haul of heroin, Gill said police have also recovered 871.82 kg opium, 446.30 quintals of poppy husk, and 90.59 lakh Pharma opioids from across the state. The police have also recovered Rs 13.96 Crore of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers arrested in the span of the last 14 months.
He said to completely eradicate the menace of drugs from the state, the Punjab Police is working on a three-pronged strategy— enforcement by Police, public contact programme and demand reduction.
The IGP said that under the enforcement part, all-out operations have been launched against street peddlers and suppliers to make a dent in the supply of drugs at cutting-edge level in mohallas and villages.
As part of this strategy, consumers— caught with a few grams of heroin or narcotic powder — will be treated as victims and section 64A of the NDPS Act will be enforced to provide them with an opportunity to get themselves treated and avail immunity from prosecution through the court, Gill added. He said that special focus is being given to pharmaceutical drugs.
To reduce the demand, the IGP said the police will involve district administrations, Health Department, Education Department and Sports Department to identify the consumers and rehabilitate them to channelise their energy in the right direction.
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