Punjab Police on high alert ahead of Independence Day, intensify security, anti-drug operations

In line with Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s directives to ensure peaceful celebrations of the forthcoming Independence Day, the Punjab Police have strengthened security measures across the state. All field units have been instructed to remain on high alert.

As directed by Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav, police teams carried out flag marches in all sensitive areas across the 28 police districts simultaneously, followed by cordon and search operations (CASOs) at vulnerable locations.

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Special DGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla said that CPs and SSPs led the flag marches in sensitive and vulnerable areas of their respective districts. The exercise was aimed at boosting public confidence while preparing police personnel to respond to any untoward situation, he added.

The Special DGP further stated that CPs and SSPs were instructed to conduct special CASOs under the supervision of SP-rank officers at crowded places such as railway stations, bus stands, markets, shopping malls, and public parks across the state.

“We have strictly instructed all police personnel to deal with every person in a friendly and polite manner while frisking them during the course of these operations,” he said.

Around 250 police teams, comprising over 1,500 personnel, were deployed across the state to look for suspicious persons while ensuring minimum inconvenience to the public.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Police continued its anti-drug CASO drive for the 165th consecutive day, conducting raids at 374 locations on Wednesday.

These operations led to the arrest of 73 drug smugglers and the registration of 53 FIRs. With this, the total number of drug smugglers arrested over the past 165 days has reached 25,719.

The raids resulted in the recovery of 2.4 kg of heroin and ₹42,800 in drug money from the arrested suspects. Over 120 police teams, comprising more than 1,100 personnel and 73 gazetted officers, carried out the operations and checked 406 suspicious persons during the day-long exercise.

The Special DGP added that under the state government’s three-pronged strategy—Enforcement, De-addiction, and Prevention (EDP)—to eradicate drugs, Punjab Police, as part of the ‘De-addiction’ initiative, convinced 61 individuals to undergo treatment and rehabilitation on Wednesday.