Punjab Police bulldoze six properties of drug peddlers in Khanna

Structures built on MC land using drug money, says SSP, adding efforts on to arrest five accused; police raze drug smuggler’s property at Bharari village in Amritsar district.

Continuing its crackdown on illegal properties owned by drug peddlers, police and Khanna municipal council authorities demolished six buildings in the town’s Meat Market on Thursday.

One of the illegal structures built using drug money being demolished at Khanna on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Police said the six structures were built by encroaching on MC land and financed with drug money. The structures belonging to six peddlers facing multiple cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

“The demolition was carried out smoothly with sufficient police personnel deployed to maintain order and prevent any disturbance,” said Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Jyoti Yadav, who led the operation. She said the demolition was carried out after the MC reported the encroachments by the six drug peddlers.

She said among the six, two are brothers, Aslam and Sunil Baba, who already face five drug cases. Sunil Baba is in judicial custody, while Aslam is absconding.

The other four smugglers, identified as Shindi, Mohendro, Pappu, and Gulshan, face cases related to drug trafficking and illegal liquor trade and are absconding. Efforts are on to arrest them.

A policeman overseeing the demolition of a property of a drug smuggler at Bharari village in Amritsar district on Thursday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT)

The Khanna police confiscated three properties belonging to drug peddlers in Payal sub division on Wednesday, the SSP said, reiterating the state government’s commitment to take strict action against those involved in the drug trade and called for public cooperation to fight the problem.

Meanwhile, police bulldozed the property of a drug smuggler at Bharari village in Amritsar district on Thursday.