Punjab Police crack down on drug smugglers, arrest 75 in statewide raids

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], March 6 (ANI): Punjab Police conducted raids at 501 locations on Thursday, leading to the arrest of 75 drug smugglers after the registration of 53 first information reports (FIRs) across the state, as per a statement issued by the State Information and Public Relations Department.
According to the statement, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 622 in just six days.
The raids have resulted in the recovery of 8.2 kg of heroin, 4.5 kg of opium, 1294 intoxicant tablets/pills/injections and Rs 1.04 lakh drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers, the statement informed.
The operation was conducted simultaneously in all 28 Police districts of the state on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
Notably, 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 subcommittee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs, as per the statement.

Divulging details, Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla informed that over 250 Police teams, comprising over 1700 police personnel, under the supervision of 108 gazetted officers, have conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 635 suspicious persons during the day-long operation.
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 'De-addiction' has convinced nine persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment, while, organised 172 awareness events across the state as part of Prevention. (ANI)