LUCKNOW: Out of 207 encounter deaths by Uttar Pradesh police, the STF alone has gunned down 49 dreaded criminals in the past 7.5 years since the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in the state.
The criminals gunned down by the STF included the slain mafioso Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad and three other members of his gang in February and March 2023, as well as dreaded criminal Vikas Dubey, who was involved in the killing of eight cops, including a deputy superintendent of police, in Kanpur’s Bikru village, and four other members of his gang involved in the ambush attack on a police team on July 2, 2020. The remaining 158 criminals have been gunned down in separate encounters with different district police units so far.
The STF has taken swift action against drug traffickers, arms smugglers, cybercriminals, and those involved in leaking question papers of various job recruitment exams.
The press note stated that the UPSTF arrested over 7,000 notorious criminals, while 49 have been gunned down in various police encounters, dealing a significant blow to organised crime in the state. Additionally, significant quantities of illegal weapons, narcotics, and banned animal skins and bones have been seized. The STF, using its intelligence network, also thwarted more than 559 criminal incidents before they could occur, further demonstrating its proactive approach.
ADG (STF and Law & Order) Amitabh Yash said the STF was conducting a continuous campaign to curb crime and apprehend criminals across the state, in line with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s directives to abolish all forms of organised crime. “Since March 2017, the STF has arrested a total of 7,015 notorious and wanted criminals, with 49 criminals being killed during this period in retaliatory firing during encounters. All of them had bounties ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹5 lakh,” he emphasised.
{{/usCountry}}ADG (STF and Law & Order) Amitabh Yash said the STF was conducting a continuous campaign to curb crime and apprehend criminals across the state, in line with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s directives to abolish all forms of organised crime. “Since March 2017, the STF has arrested a total of 7,015 notorious and wanted criminals, with 49 criminals being killed during this period in retaliatory firing during encounters. All of them had bounties ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹5 lakh,” he emphasised.
{{/usCountry}}The ADG said several criminal incidents were averted before they could occur, including serious crimes such as kidnapping, robbery, and planned murders of public representatives, prominent individuals, and ordinary citizens, through heightened alertness and vigilance under the state’s zero-tolerance policy. Furthermore, 3,970 criminals involved in organised crime were arrested during the same period, he added.
The press note stated that the STF had taken action against 926 kingpins and solvers from 193 gangs over the past seven and a half years to eliminate examination-related malpractices such as cheating and paper leaks. This has significantly enhanced the credibility of the Yogi government among the youth. Additionally, 379 cybercriminals involved in various cybercrimes were also apprehended.
In a separate campaign targeting illegal arms smuggling, the STF arrested 189 criminals, recovering 2,080 illegal weapons and 8,229 illegal cartridges. Similarly, the STF cracked down on liquor smuggling, arresting 523 smugglers involved in transporting liquor from states such as Punjab and Haryana. A total of 80,579 boxes of liquor, 330,866 liters of rectified spirit, and 7,560 liters of prepared country liquor were seized during these operations.
DSP STF Deepak Singh reported that the agency arrested 1,082 individuals involved in the illegal drug trade and seized a large quantity of narcotics, including 91,147.48 kg of ganja, 2,054.651 kg of charas, 19,727.1 kg of doda/poppy, 7.06 kg of morphine, 723.758 kg of smack, 21.521 kg of heroin, 181.012 kg of opium, 6.1 kg of brown sugar, 6.938 kg of methadone, and 280,899 banned drugs. Vehicles used in the transportation of these substances were also seized, and appropriate legal action was taken.
In addition, the STF arrested 170 criminals from various gangs involved in poaching and smuggling of prohibited wildlife. The recoveries included 341 kg of tortoise calipee, 2 pangolins, 1 tiger skin, 18 kg of tiger bone, 2 elephant tusks, 8,011 tortoises, 4,922 prohibited birds, 1 hyena skeleton, 20 grey langurs, 1 leopard skin, 4.12 kg of ambergris, 4 wild boar teeth, 563.1 kg of red sandalwood, 44 ivory items, 25 leopard teeth, 24 leopard nails, 110 jackal horns, 140 Indrajal plants, 1 tiger skeleton, 1 python, and 1 snake. Vehicles, cash, and other items used in these illegal activities were also recovered. During the same period, the STF carried out a total of 2,670 commendable operations.
Measures to tackle cyber threats yield results
The Yogi government has taken significant measures to combat cybercrime in the state, which include the establishment of 18 regional cybercrime police stations, digital forensic labs, and cyber help desks in every police station across the state.
The STF has taken decisive action against cyber criminals, resulting in the arrest of 379 individuals linked to various cybercrime activities. Notably, the STF apprehended a gang of 16 cyber criminals responsible for defrauding an associate professor from SGPGI of approximately ₹2 crores besides dismantling one of the largest online fraud gangs in the state, arresting 105 members and seizing approximately 2,00,000 data points from major companies such as Reliance Future, Exide, Birla Sun Life, Max Life, PNB Met Life, HDFC Agro, Paytm Online Shopping, Shyclues, and Flipkart, which were used to facilitate their fraudulent operations.
DSP (STF) Deepak Singh said that in Gautam Buddha Nagar alone, 225 major cyber criminals had been apprehended, followed by 116 in Lucknow and 9 in Ghaziabad. The campaign had also resulted in the arrests of five cyber fraudsters each from Prayagraj, Agra, and Delhi, as well as one criminal each from Pratapgarh, Jaunpur, and Kanpur Nagar. Additionally, four cyber criminals were captured in Fatehpur and Gorakhpur, and three others were arrested in Rajasthan.