Chandigarh, March 27 With the street supply of drugs witnessing a drastic reduction following intensive crackdown as part of the ongoing war against drugs ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, Punjab Police has now shifted focus to dismantling high-level drug networks by targeting big fish, including drug suppliers and kingpins, fuelling the narcotics trade in the state, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.
"We are not stopping at street-level arrests of drug peddlers or smugglers. Punjab Police teams are now rigorously questioning all the arrested drug peddlers and smugglers to trace and identify the big fish in the narcotics trade in the state,” said the DGP, while addressing the media here.
The development came after the DGP Punjab directed all the Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) to identify and catalogue the main drug suppliers and peddlers in their respective districts within seven days.
DGP Yadav said the anti-drugs campaign ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ launched by the Punjab Government on March 1 has resulted in arrest of 4,142 drug smugglers after registration of 2,384 first information reports (FIRs) across the state and led to recovery of 146.3 kg heroin, 85.3 kg opium, 19.95 quintals poppy husk, 7.69 lakh intoxicant tablets and capsules, 1 kg ICE and Rs 5.83 crore drug money from the possession of drug smugglers.
He said the ongoing crackdown has led to a drastic reduction in street-level drug availability, prompting police to now pursue the big fish behind the supply chain.
He said all the CPs and SSPs have already been mandated to personally oversee the mapping exercise to prepare details of the suppliers funnelling drugs in their respective areas and catalogue them on the basis of interrogation reports, public tips, intelligence inputs, data from the ‘Safe Punjab Helpline’ and backward and forward linkages unveiled in criminal investigations under the NDPS Act.
The DGP further said, taking a cue from the success of Village Defence Committees (VDCs), the Punjab Police is now set to form mohalla committees in urban areas as part of its intensified war against drugs.
Notably, VDCs, comprising trusted and prominent persons of the border villages, have been working as eyes and ears of the police and supplementing the efforts of the police to wipe out drugs from the state.
"Just as VDCs strengthened rural policing in border areas, mohalla committees will empower urban communities to fight the drug menace collectively,” said DGP Yadav, emphasising that citizen involvement is crucial to eradicate the drug menace from the state.
The DGP also thanked citizens of the state for their support to Punjab Police in making this drive against drugs successful, and urged them to make maximum use of ‘Safe Punjab Anti-Drug Helpline’ ‘9779100200’ to report drug traffickers anonymously.
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