Punjab Police arrest 140 drug smugglers, recover 3kg heroin worth ₹60,500

Continuing its intensive crackdown on drugs under the ‘Yudh Nashian De Virudh’ campaign launched at the behest of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Punjab Police on Tuesday arrested 140 drug smugglers and recovered 3 kilograms of heroin along with ₹60,500 in drug money.

This brings the total number of drug smugglers arrested to 19,007 in just 115 days since the campaign began.

Advertisement

The statewide operation, conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav, was simultaneously carried out across all 28 police districts.

Chief Minister Mann has directed all Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners, and Senior Superintendents of Police to work collectively toward making Punjab a drug-free state. To monitor and guide the campaign, the state government has formed a five-member Cabinet Sub-Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema.

Providing further details, Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla said over 200 police teams, consisting of more than 1,500 personnel and supervised by 94 gazetted officers, conducted coordinated raids at 482 locations across the state. The effort resulted in the registration of 97 FIRs and the questioning of 510 suspicious individuals during the day-long operation.

As part of the government’s comprehensive three-pronged strategy — Enforcement, De-addiction, and Prevention (EDP) — the Punjab Police, under its ‘De-addiction’ initiative, also convinced 89 individuals to voluntarily undergo rehabilitation and treatment on Tuesday.