With the war against drugs, ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, being waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to eradicate drug menace from state entered 47th day, the Punjab Police on Wednesday arrested 121 drug smugglers and recovered 4.7 kg heroin, 2.6 kg opium and Rs 1.08 lakh drug money from their possession.

With this, the number of drug smugglers arrested reached 6,284 in just 47 days.

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The operation was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav simultaneously in all 28 Police districts of the state.

Chief Minister Mann has asked the Commissioners of Police and Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab a drug free state. The Punjab government has also constituted a 5-member Cabinet Sub Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.

Divulging details, Special DGP, Law and Order, Arpit Shukla informed that over 250 police teams, comprising over 1900 police personnel, under the supervision of 88 gazetted officers conducted raids at as many as 499 locations across the state leading to the registration of 71 first information reports (FIRs) across the state. The police teams have also checked as many as 554 suspicious persons during the day-long operation, he added.

The Special DGP said with the state government having enforced a three-pronged strategy — Enforcement, Deaddiction and Prevention (EDP) — to eradicate drugs from the state, the Punjab Police, as part of ‘de-addiction’, have convinced seven persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment.