Punjab Police arrest 676 drug smugglers in a week

Punjab Police have arrested 676 drug smugglers and suppliers after registering 559 first information reports under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act across state in last one week

The Punjab Police have arrested 676 drug smugglers and suppliers after registering 559 first information reports (FIRs) under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act across the state in the last one week.

IG, headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill said chief minister Bhagwant Mann has given the Punjab Police a free hand and full liberty to wage a war against drugs and extensive anti-drug drives are being launched to combat the menace from the state. (HT Photo/ Representational image)

Disclosing this in a press conference, IG, headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill said chief minister Bhagwant Mann has given the Punjab Police a free hand and full liberty to wage a war against drugs and extensive anti-drug drives are being launched to combat the menace from the state.

The IG said the police have recovered 5.57 kg heroin, 17 kg opium, 25 kg ganja, 7 quintals of poppy husk and 2.25 lakh intoxicant pills/capsules among other drugs after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas besides laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state. As many as 32 proclaimed offenders and absconders in the NDPS cases have also been arrested in the past week, he added.

He said with this, the Punjab Police have managed to break the supply chain of the drugs. It has come to the notice of the Shri Muktsar district police that due to less availability of heroin, drug peddlers resort to the making of duplicate heroin with help of spurious materials by mixing powder of “patasha” (a traditional sweet made of sugar), washing soda, weed-killers, and herbicides (liquid and powder) and then by using a surfactant. The manufactured duplicate heroin (chitta) is sold with plastic foil to poor people, he added.