Chandigarh: On the completion of 15 months of the decisive war against drugs launched in the direction of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to curb the menace of drugs in the state, the Punjab Police has arrested 3003 people from July 5, 2022 till now. 20979 drug traffickers including big fish have been arrested. The police have registered a total of 15434 FIRs, of which 1864 are related to commercial quantities.
IGP Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill, who was addressing a press conference here on Monday, said that police teams have recovered 1510.55 kg of heroin after conducting cordon and search operations in drug-hit areas across the state. In addition, Punjab Police teams have recovered 147.5 kg of heroin from ports in Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 1658.05 kg in just 15 months.
Apart from recovering a large consignment of heroin, the IGP said the police recovered 924.29 kg of opium, 986.06 kg of ganja, 470.91 quintal of poppy and 92.03 lakh tablets/capsules/injections/vials from across the state. The police have also recovered drug money worth Rs 15.81 crore from the possession of drug smugglers caught during the last 15 months.
He said that during these 15 months, the Punjab Police has also seized the properties of 111 big smugglers worth Rs 88.3 crore. He said that maximum properties worth Rs 40.3 crore have been seized in district Jalandhar Rural, followed by properties worth Rs 12.06 crore in District Tarn Taran and properties worth Rs 6.16 crore in Ferozepur.
Giving the weekly update, the IGP said that last week the police registered 185 FIRs, including 21 related to business cases, arrested 260 drug traffickers/suppliers and recovered 15.82-kg heroin, 6.13-kg opium, 6.38 quintals. Bhukki, 43388 tablets/capsules/injections/vials of pharma opioids besides recovered drug money worth Rs.4.11 lakhs.
With the arrest of 13 more POs/absconders in NDPS cases last week, the total number of arrests under the special drive to arrest POs/absconders since July 5, 2022 has now reached 1111, he said. Apart from this, IGP Sukhchain Singh Gill said that Punjab Police is leaving no stone unturned to improve law and order in the state.
Official data shows that the Punjab Police has arrested 197 terrorists/extremists and busted 31 terrorist modules and recovered 32 rifles, 222 revolvers from their possession since the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann came to power. /pistol, 9 Tiffin Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), 10.86 kg of RDX and other explosives, 11 hand grenades, two sleeves of disposed rocket launchers, 73 drones and one loaded rocket propelled grenade were recovered.
Similarly, the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), which was formed on April 6, 2022, has busted 249 gangsters/criminal modules by arresting 800 gangsters/criminals and killing 6 since its formation. and recovered 839 weapons, 171 vehicles used in criminal activities from their possession.
It may be mentioned that the Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab Gaurav Yadav has given strict instructions to all CPs/SSPs to thoroughly investigate the nexus of each case, especially cases related to drug recovery. Even if there is only a small recovery of drugs.