Punjab Police heighten security ahead of Independence Day

In order to ensure peaceful celebrations of the forthcoming Independence Day as mandated by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police have beefed up the security across the state and all the field units have been directed to remain on high alert.

As directed by Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav, Police teams have also conducted flag marches at all the sensitive areas in all the 28 police districts simultaneously, followed by, cordon and search operations (CASOs) at all the vulnerable spots.

Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla said that Police teams led by CPs/SSPs conducted Flag Marches in the sensitive and vulnerable areas of their respective districts. The exercise was aimed to boost the confidence of the general public, besides, preparing police personnel to tackle any untoward situation, he said.

The Special DGP said that the CPs/SSPs were also directed to conduct a special Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) under the supervision of an SP-rank officer at all the crowded places including Railway Stations, Bus Stands, Markets, Shopping Malls, Public Parks, etc across the state. “We had strictly instructed all the Police Personnel to deal with every person in a friendly and polite manner while frisking them during the course of this operation,” he added.

He said that around 250 police teams, involving over 1500 police personnel, were deputed across the state to look for suspicious persons in the state, while ensuring minimum inconvenience to the general public.

Apart from this, Police teams have continued its cordon and search operation (CASO) against drugs on Day 165, and conducted raids at 374 locations on Wednesday leading to the arrest of 73 drug smugglers after registration of 53 first information reports (FIRs) across the state. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 25,719 within 165 days.

The Special DGP said that the raids have resulted in recovery of 2.4 kg heroin and Rs 42,800 drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers.

He informed that over 120 Police teams, comprising over 1100 police personnel, under the supervision of 73 gazetted officers have conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 406 suspicious persons during the day long operation.

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 61 persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment today.