No illegal wealth earned through drug trade will stay with criminals: Sukhu

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that luxurious houses, hotels, shops, land, cash and expensive vehicles acquired through drug trafficking have, in fact, been built at the cost of the hard-working people

Those who have amassed illegal wealth through the drug trade will now have to account for their ill-gotten assets, said chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday.

The CM said that the properties seized in Nurpur include a luxurious house, land, hotel, shops, vehicles and bank accounts. (HT File)

He said that luxurious houses, hotels, shops, land, cash and expensive vehicles acquired through drug trafficking have, in fact, been built at the cost of the hard-working people.

“Those who built luxurious houses, purchased hotels, shops and acquired expensive vehicles by selling drugs must understand that this money belongs to the hard-working people, the poor and those families whose children have been trapped in the web of addiction. This money was taken from them and is now being recovered,” the CM said.

He congratulated the Nurpur police for taking decisive action against drug traffickers and seizing properties worth ₹3.27 crore. He said that the state government has launched a comprehensive campaign against the drug trade and that illegally acquired assets, generated through narcotics trafficking, would not be allowed to remain with criminals at any cost.

The CM said that the properties seized in Nurpur include a luxurious house, land, hotel, shops, vehicles and bank accounts. “The action sends a clear message to the drug mafia and drug peddlers that there is no place for them in Himachal Pradesh,” Sukhu said.

“Our objective is to completely dismantle the entire drug network, including its financial infrastructure and the illegally acquired assets generated through the drug trade,” he said adding that the police and law-enforcement agencies have been given “full freedom to take stringent action in this direction and the government is extending all possible support to them”.

In the Nurpur district, properties worth ₹29.95 crore have so far been seized in 17 cases. The CM said that after the formation of the Congress government in the state, strict implementation of the PIT-NDPS Act is being ensured against habitual offenders to put them behind bars.

He said that drug mafias have been mapped up to the panchayat level and continuous stringent action was being taken against persons involved in the drug trade as well as their networks.