Punjab Police's 'OPS Seal-VIII' leads to arrests and seizures in anti-smuggling operation

Chandigarh [India], September 9 (ANI): Punjab Police on Monday carried out a special operation, 'OPS Seal-VIII,' to check vehicles entering or exiting the state border to keep tabs on drug trafficking and liquor smuggling.
According to a statement released on Monday, the operation is meant to keep vigil on the movement of gangsters and anti-social elements in the wake of upcoming assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir (J-K).
The operation was conducted in a synchronized manner from 6 am to 2 pm on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla said that all the Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) of the border districts were asked to coordinate with their counterparts in the bordering states and Union Territory (UT) to ensure effective Nakabandi as part of 'OPS Seal-VIII'.
"All the SSPs of border districts were directed to organise joint Naka operations at strategic places of the border districts and mobilise a maximum number of manpower to lay strong 'nakas' at sealing points under the supervision of Gazetted officers/SHOs," he said.
SDGP Shukla said that well-coordinated strong nakas involving over 1000 police personnel were set up under the supervision of inspectors/DSPs at least 92 entry/exit points of 10 districts, which share boundaries with four border states and UT Chandigarh. The 10 inter-state border districts include Pathankot, Muktsar Sahib, Fazilka, Ropar, SAS Nagar, Patiala, Sangrur, Mansa, Hoshiarpur, and Bathinda.
He said that during the operation, a thorough search of suspected vehicles and persons was conducted while ensuring minimum inconvenience was caused to the general public. Besides checking the vehicles, police teams have also verified their registration numbers using the VAHAN mobile app, he added.
"We had strictly instructed all the police personnel to deal with every commuter in a friendly and polite manner while checking their vehicles during this operation," he added.
SDGP Shukla said that as many as 4245 vehicles entering/exiting the state were checked, of which 293 were challaned and 16 were impounded. The police have also registered 26 first information reports (FIRs) after arresting 27 persons. While the police teams have rounded up 401 suspicious persons for questioning.
During the operation, police teams have also recovered 1.1 kg of opium, 29 kg of poppy husk, 42 kg of intoxicant powder, 1070 intoxicant capsules/tablets, and a huge amount of licit and illicit liquor, the release stated. (ANI)