Punjab’s drug war hits 123-day milestone mark

With the war against drugs “Yudh Nashian Virudh” waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to eradicate drug menace from state completed 123 days, Punjab Police on Wednesday arrested 156 drug smugglers and recovered 7.8 kg heroin, 3 kg opium and Rs 1.43 lakh drug money from their possession. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 20,206 in just 123 days.

The operation was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav simultaneously in all 28 Police districts of the state.

Notably, CM Bhagwant Singh Mann has asked the Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab drug free state. The Punjab government has also constituted a 5-member Cabinet Sub Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.

Divulging details, Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla informed that over 220 Police teams, comprising over 1500 police personnel, under the supervision of 91 gazetted officers have conducted raids at as many as 477 locations across the state leading to the registration of 104 first information reports (FIRs) across the state. Police teams have also checked as many as 483 suspicious persons during the day-long operation, he added.

The Special DGP said that with the state government has enforced a three-pronged strategy— Enforcement, Deaddiction and Prevention (EDP)— to eradicate drugs from the state, the Punjab Police as part of ‘De-addiction’ has convinced 59 persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment today.