Amid heightened security to ensure peaceful Independence-Day celebrations, as mandated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, senior police officers, including Special DGPs, ADGPs, and IGPs, have been deputed to each police district to personally supervise all security arrangements.
As per the directions of Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, these officers will brief their respective teams during full-dress rehearsals, review anti-terrorist operations carried out in the districts, secure all official functions, and implement other preventive measures to ensure foolproof security.
Special DGP Arpit Shukla, who will be stationed in Patiala to oversee arrangements, said the Punjab Police are fully prepared to ensure smooth and peaceful Independence Day celebrations. Security has been tightened across the state, and all field units have been directed to remain on high alert, he added.
He further said that, as part of the ongoing fortnight-long special operations, police teams in all districts continued search operations at crowded places for the second consecutive day on Thursday. The checks included hotels, sarais, railway stations, bus stands, markets, shopping malls, and public parks across Punjab.
In addition, the police teams continued their cordon and search operation (CASO) against drugs on Day 166, conducting raids at 399 locations on Thursday. This led to the arrest of 84 drug smugglers and the registration of 52 FIRs. With these arrests, the total number of drug smugglers apprehended in the past 166 days has reached 25,806.
The Special DGP reported that the raids resulted in the recovery of 4.8 kg of heroin, 40 kg of poppy husk, and ₹4.90 lakh in drug money from those arrested.
Over 120 police teams — comprising more than 1,100 personnel and supervised by 76 gazetted officers — conducted raids across the state and checked 434 suspicious individuals during the day-long operation.
He also highlighted that under the state government’s three-pronged strategy of Enforcement, De-addiction, and Prevention (EDP) to eradicate drugs, the Punjab Police persuaded 40 individuals to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment on Thursday.