Chandigarh, March 2 -- Continuing its "Yudh Nashian Virudh" drive to eradicate drug menace from the state consecutively on the second day, the Punjab Police on Sunday conducted raids at 510 locations leading to the arrest of 43 alleged drug smugglers across the state. With this, the number of total alleged drug smugglers arrested has reached 333 in just two days.
Police teams have also recovered 776 grams heroin, 14 kg opium, 38 kg poppy husk, 2615 intoxicant tablets/pills/injections and Rs 4.60 lakh drug money from the possession of arrested 'drug smugglers'.
The operation was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav from 9 am to 4 pm simultaneously in all 28 districts of the state.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has asked the Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab a drug-free state in the coming three months. The Punjab government has also constituted a five-member Cabinet Sub Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.
According to Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla, more than 300 teams, comprising over 2000 police personnel, under the supervision of 101 gazetted officers, have conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 619 suspicious persons during the day-long operation
He said that the Punjab Police has devised a comprehensive strategy and such operations will be continued till the scourge of drugs is eradicated from the state.
The Special DGP said that with the state government has enforced a three-pronged strategy- Enforcement, Deaddiction and Prevention (EDP) - to eradicate drugs from the state.
The Punjab Police as part of 'Prevention' has also been organising different events to spread awareness among people about the detrimental effects of drugs and get support of the general public in the fight against drugs.
As many as 510 awareness events, which include awareness camps, seminars and public meetings, were organised on Sunday in all the 28 Police districts, he added.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.