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.
Lt Gen Aujla, an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, was commissioned in December 1987 and has had an illustrious military career spanning 35 years during which he has held varied prestigious command, staff and instructional appointments.
The area around the Intelligence Bureau office has been sealed and investigation is in progress. A bomb disposal and forensic squads have been positioned at the spot. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke to Director General of Police V.K. Bhawra and sought details about the incident.
Notably, the police detained several people, including party workers, who were not allowing the SDMC to carry out the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh. After the agitation was quelled, the bulldozer moved forward to demolish the illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building. It is at this juncture that Khan reached the spot and was seen speaking to the officials.
Punjab shares a 553-km barbed-wire fenced international border with Pakistan which is under the vigil of nearly 135 BSF battalions. The drug network operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.
Police are looking at this angle. The incident took place near Kengeri at 1 a.m. and the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals. According to the police, the bus had first hit the 4-feet tall road divider and then rammed into the Namma Metro Pillar number 545.
Chairing a meeting of the Special Task Force (STF) team led by its chief Harpreet Sidhu here, Mann said neither political persons nor officers would be spared if found conniving with the drug mafia. He told the police officers to work freely without any political pressure with a sharpened focus to make Punjab a drug-free state.
