IGP takes tough stand on drug trafficking
Chandigarh police top brass on Thursday made it clear that it would delve deep into the issue of drug trafficking in the city, by tracking down the source of contraband substances as also the nexus between drug traffickers here with those across the country and abroad.
Chandigarh police top brass on Thursday made it clear that it would delve deep into the issue of drug trafficking in the city, by tracking down the source of contraband substances as also the nexus between drug traffickers here with those across the country and abroad.
The Chandigarh police would also be brought under the scanner, UT inspector general of police R P Upadhyaya marking an inquiry to DSP (CID) Anil Joshi to look into the role of city cops in drug hauls in the recent past. The inquiry has been marked.
The development assumes significance as the Chandigarh police and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested nearly a dozen Nigerians for trafficking drugs in the last three years.
The inquiry has been ordered in the wake of the arrest of two Nigerian nationals for their alleged role in drug trafficking in the last two months.
The IGP said, “The police are now trying to track down the source of drugs into the city and the alleged involvement of foreign nationals in trafficking by investigating the contacts of foreigners arrested for the offence. We are also looking into any kind of police connivance in drug haul cases.”
A senior police officer added, “The mobile details of the Nigerians are being minutely reviewed to find out their contacts. Efforts are on to find out the places the duo visited before coming to Chandigarh. The police are also trying to establish their links in the city.” The officer added that the possibility of any lapses on the part of the police in probing drug trafficking or their connivance in the racket is also being minutely looked into.
On April 10, Nigerian national Samsom was arrested with 5-gm cocaine. Earlier, on March 7, a 35-year-old Nigerian national, Cyril, was arrested with 43-gm cocaine.
The police had nabbed three Nepalese nationals for drug peddling. Police sources claimed the Nepalese were, in all probability, supplying drugs to a Nigerian drug peddler in the city.
Nearly 259 people have been booked under the NDPS Act for drug peddling by the Chandigarh police in the past four years. As many as 61 cases were registered under the NDPS Act in the city till November 2012. In 2011, the number of such cases was 53 and it was 48 in 2010.
Police sources added that drug peddlers coming to Chandigarh were in fact supplying to cities in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
