The Uttarakhand police is soon going to create a three-tier task force to “bolster its fight” against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, said a senior police officer.
“The task force will be formed at three levels-- police station (PS) level, district level and state level,” said additional general of police (law and order) Ashok Kumar.
The announcement was made a day after the International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking was observed by the state police department on Tuesday.
Kumar said students were mostly in the grip of the growing drug menace in the state.
“At the district level task force, the nodal officer would be an additional superintendent of police of circle officer rank. The state level anti-drug task force would be the Special Task Force (STF). Once in a month there would be meeting with all the nodal officers to analyse the situation of drug abuse and illicit trafficking in their areas so as to take required measures,” said Kumar.
As per the state police data, this year from January 1 to May 31, a total of 572 cases have been registered under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Altogether 589 accused were arrested for allegedly possessing narcotic drugs. In 2017, 1,037 cases were registered under the NDPS Act and 1,091 arrests were made. In 2016 the total cases were 631 with 672 arrests.
The data further suggests that till May, 2018, Dehradun district witnessed the most number of cases under the NDPS Act in the state with a tally of 305 cases and 310 arrests. It was followed by Udham Singh (US) Nagar with 102 cases and 105 arrests, and Haridwar with 52 cases and 53 arrests.
{{/usCountry}}The data further suggests that till May, 2018, Dehradun district witnessed the most number of cases under the NDPS Act in the state with a tally of 305 cases and 310 arrests. It was followed by Udham Singh (US) Nagar with 102 cases and 105 arrests, and Haridwar with 52 cases and 53 arrests.
{{/usCountry}}In 2017 also Dehradun topped the state list with 556 cases and 561 arrests followed by US Nagar with 153 cases and 177 arrests, and Nainital with 87 cases and 87 arrests.
As per the data, till May 2018, among the drug haul, the maximum seizure was that of cannabis (ganja) with a total seizure of 325 kg. It was followed by opium with 266 kg and charas with 95 kg.
Apart from this, the police in that period also seized 2.5 kg smack , 6,700 contraband drug pills and 1,383 injections of injective drugs.
Dwelling on the measures taken to curb the menace, Kumar said, “Police would keep an eye on the accused who were arrested for drug trafficking in the last few years and also increase vigil near places where the menace is said to be more.”