Amritsar: In a drive against drug business in the state, the Punjab Police have arrested 357 drug smugglers after registering 269 First Information Reports (FIRs), including 35 commercials under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act across the state in the last one week.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Headquarters, Sukhchain Singh Gill said that the police have also recovered 6.90 kilograms (kg) heroin, 14.41 kg opium, five kg ganja, 6.44 quintals of poppy husk, and 2.10 lakh tablets and vials of pharma opioids, besides recovering Rs 4.81 lakh drug money.
With 17 more Proclaimed Offenders (POs) and absconders in NDPS cases arrested this week, the total number of arrests reached 280 since the special drive to arrest them was started on July 5, Gill told media.
Gill said that Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav has given strict instructions to investigate backward and forward linkages minutely in each case, especially related to drug recoveries, even if they recover a meager amount of drugs.
The DGP has also strictly ordered all the CPs and SSPs to identify all top drug smugglers and the hotspots infamous for drug smuggling in their jurisdictions. He also directed the Police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered.
(Vinayak)