676 drug smugglers arrested in a week: Punjab Police
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jul, 2022 01:41 PM
Chandigarh, July 11 (IANS) Intensifying its war against the drug menace in the state, Punjab Police on Monday said it has arrested 676 drug smugglers and suppliers after registering 559 first FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 in the past one week.
A police spokesperson said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has given Punjab Police a free hand to wage a war against drugs and extensive drives are being launched to combat the menace.
Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav has ordered all Commissioners of Police to strictly adhere to the government's zero-tolerance policy against drugs and keep vigil at "drug hotspots".
The spokesperson said the police have recovered 5.57 kg heroin, 17 kg opium, 25 kg ganja, seven quintals poppy husk, 2.25 lakh intoxicant pills and capsules, etc, after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
A total of 32 proclaimed offenders and absconders in the NDPS cases have also been arrested in the past week, he added.
He said the police busted a racket of making spurious drugs in Muktsar district. Drug peddlers were making duplicate heroin by mixing powder of 'patasha', a traditional sweet, washing soda, weed-killers and herbicides, both liquid and powder. The manufactured 'heroin', widely known as 'chitta', used to be sold among the poor.
Besides, the NCSC also asked the government to stop the eviction drive and maintain status quo. In a complaint to the NCSC, residents of Bhama Kalan village said they have possession of 200 acres in the village since 1947.
Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, a private firm based in Mansa, took the help of a middleman and allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to get the visa issued for the Chinese nationals which would help it in completing a project before the deadline, according to the CBI.
The former Chief Minister hoped the state government, instead of adopting a confrontationist attitude, will co-operate and co-ordinate with the Central government to handle all the security and other issues Punjab is challenged with.
As the year-long protest against the Centre's farm laws at the Delhi borders ended in November last year with the revoking of the three Central farm laws, hundreds of Punjab farmers on Tuesday gathered on the outskirts of the state capital demanding compensation of Rs 500 per quintal for those who suffered losses due to early onset of early summer.
Based on a specific information about the presence of four suspicious persons in Ahmedabad, a team was formed under Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kanubhai Patel, which detained the four persons from the Sardarnagar area on the evening of May 12.
Furnishing details, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north), Sagar Singh Kalsi, said some complaints were received on the MHA's Cyber Crime Portal regarding extortion by fake Crime Branch and YouTube officials on the pretext of lodging police complaints over obscene videos of victims and uploading of the same on YouTube.
