Chandigarh, Nov 16 (IANS) Punjab Police have destroyed over 151 kg heroin and 11 quintals poppy husk valued over Rs 800 crore in the international market, by burning them in a furnace in Amritsar.
The process of destruction was completed by the high-level drug disposal committee of contraband under the chairmanship of IGP (Counter Intelligence) Rakesh Agrawal.
A police spokesperson said the case properties of drug cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, in Amritsar and Fazilka were destroyed on Tuesday.
He said the disposal certificate for opium weighing 40.5 kg was also issued by the range-level drug disposal committee for depositing it in the Government Opium at Alkaloid Works in Madhya Pradesh.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.
