Under the NDPS Act, cops have managed to arrest absconders evading arrest since the 1980s and 1990s.
New Delhi: Seven weeks ago, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann launched a drive to nab proclaimed offenders (POs) and absconders under the NDPS Act. The drive has started bearing fruits.
According to Sukhchain Singh Gill, Inspector General of Police, Headquarters, a total of 186 POs and absconders under the NDPS Act, have been arrested since 5 July 2022. Last week, Punjab Police arrested 45 such absconders.
While giving weekly updates, IGP said that under the NDPS Act, police teams have even managed to arrest those absconders who have been evading arrest since the 1980s and 1990s.
While talking to the media, the IGP said that Gurdeep Singh, alias Kaku of Kotla Hoshiarpur, who was declared PO in November 1985, has been arrested by the Ludhiana Commissionerate Police. Another absconder from 1988, Amarjeet Singh, has been arrested by Fatehgarh Sahib Police and Mohinder Singh of village Dabalkheri in Haryana, who was declared PO in 1989, has been arrested by Sangrur Police. Similarly, at least three nabbed POs are those who have been evading arrest since the 1990s, he added.
The IGP further said that Punjab Police have arrested 335 drug smugglers and suppliers after registering 251 first information reports, including 22 commercials, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances act across the state in the last week.
The IGP further informed that the police have also recovered 9.76Kg Heroin, 8.68Kg opium, 11.56Kg Ganja, nine quintals of poppy husk, and 49 thousand tablets, capsules, injections, and vials of pharma opioids besides recovering Rs 40.50 lakh drug money after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas beside laying blockade at vulnerable routes across the state.
Punjab police have roped in various stakeholders in the fight against drugs. According to IGP, SSPs are asked to visit drug affected areas and they are continuously holding meetings with MLAs, sarpanches, and councillors.
They are also involving NGOs and Youth Clubs to work against drugs in their respective districts to sensitize the youth about the harmful and ill effects of drugs.
Punjab Police is not only focusing on drug smugglers but, it is also working to keep youth away from drugs and helping to rehabilitate those who have already fallen prey to this menace.
The DGP Punjab Police has strictly ordered all the police chiefs and SSPs to further tighten the noose around the drug smugglers by identifying all top drug smugglers and the hotspots notorious for the drug trade in their jurisdictions and launching a combing operation to arrest all those selling and smuggling drugs. The top cop has 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.