Punjab Police arrested 10,576 drug smugglers: Official
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Feb, 2023 11:49 AM
Chandigarh, Feb 13 (IANS) Punjab Police have arrested 10,576 drug smugglers, including 1,540 big fish, since July last year, Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill said on Monday.
The police have registered 7,999 first information reports (FIRs) of which 915 are related to commercial quantity.
At his weekly press briefing here, Gill said the police have recovered 529.53 kg heroin from the state after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas.
Additionally, 147.5 kg heroin was recovered by the police from seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 677.03 kg in seven months, he said.
Apart from seizing big-haul of heroin, the IGP said the police have also recovered 424 kg opium, 480.24 kg ganja, 255 quintals of poppy husk, and 51.39 lakh tablets, capsules, injections and vials of pharma opioids.
The police have also recovered Rs 10.03 crore of drug money in seven months.
Accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala is accused of killing his live-in partner Walkar and then chopping her body into several pieces and storing them in a refrigerator before disposing of them in the Chhatarpur forest near his house over a period of three months.
After the process of identification is over, the bodies will be brought to Ghazipur. On January 16, family members of the four youths were sent to Kathmandu by road with head of Chak Jainab village Vijay Jaiswal, nayab tehsildar and a revenue inspector to claim and bring back the bodies.
Also on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on the occasion of Parakram Jayanti and said: "Today, on Parakram Diwas, I pay homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and recall his unparalleled contribution to India's history."
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Health Minister Balbir Singh said the inauguration program would be held in Amritsar on January 27. The Chief Minister will inaugurate the clinics, while AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will attend the programme as the chief guest.
A police official said that during normal checking of vehicles on Sunday night in Imphal, two persons were apprehended and the drugs, smuggled from Myanmar, were recovered from their procession. The drug peddlers, identified as Md. Abdul Salam and Md. Wasim Akram, have been arrested under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The bodies of a married couple and their two children, aged three and 11, were found metres from the border on Jan. 19, 2022. Investigators have said they believe the deaths were linked to a human smuggling operation, and a man charged in the U.S. is to stand trial later this year.
