With questions being raised over unchecked supply of drugs in Punjab , Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav on Tuesday ordered all the field officers to launch a massive crackdown to break the supply chain of drugs.

Chairing a state-level review meeting via video conference with all the eight Range Inspector Generals (IGs), 28 district police chiefs, 117 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), and over 410 Station House Officers (SHOs) in the state to chalk out cutting-edge strategy against drugs, the DGP said three pronged strategy— enforcement by Police, de-addiction and rehabilitation— will be enforced to eradicate the drug menace from state.

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The development came a day after Yadav chaired a high-level meeting on drug trafficking at Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur. He said the Punjab Police has been working on a multi-pronged strategy against drug trafficking to disrupt supply chain, reach out to the public in a massive way by holding meetings, rallies, seminars and work with other departments to reduce demand and provide treatment to victims.

The DGP said a lot of good work has been done against Drugs by the Punjab Police in August month by seizing around 200 kilogram (kg) of heroin. He, however, stressed on the need to further intensify the vigil against drug smugglers.

Yadav also ordered all the field officers to thoroughly investigate backward and forward linkages of all the FIRs registered under the NDPS act and effectively forfeit the properties of big fish. He also asked all the units to identify drug hotspots in their jurisdictions and make their own strategy to make their jurisdictions drug-free.

Stressing on the need to involve the public in the fight against drugs, the DGP asked all the SHOs to interact with the common people and share their contact numbers with them so that they can feel free to share any information with the police.

Meanwhile, all the district police chiefs have also been asked to rope in sports, health and education departments and hold awareness programmes including cycle rallies, painting competitions, nukkad nataks, etc to sensitise people about ill-effects of the drugs.