Chandigarh: Continuing its efforts to combat drug addiction, police in Punjab on Wednesday conducted raids at 483 locations leading to the arrest of 77 drug smugglers after registration of 55 first information reports (FIRs).
Official sources said that with this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 4,114 in just 26 days.
Police teams have also recovered 1.1 kg heroin, 301 grams opium and Rs 13,570 drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers.
The operation was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav simultaneously in all 28 police districts of the state.
Notably, CM Mann has asked the Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab a drug-free state.
The government has also constituted a five-member Cabinet Sub-Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.
Revealing details, Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla said that more than 200 police teams, comprising over 1,300 police personnel, under the supervision of 101 gazetted officers have conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 531 suspicious people during the day-long operation.
He said that 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 the state government has enforced a three-pronged strategy — Enforcement, Deaddiction and Prevention — to eradicate drugs from the state, the Punjab Police as part of ‘De-addiction’ has convinced four persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment, while organising 114 awareness events across the state as part of prevention.