Taking a cognisance of the matter related to arrest of three persons misusing an ambulance to smuggle drugs, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ropar Range Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that he would take up this issue with Civil, Health and concerned regulatory authorities.
Amid the ongoing war against drugs on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Mohali Police on Sunday busted an inter-state drug smuggling racket after recovering 8kg opium concealed in a pillow placed under the head of a fake patient laying in an ambulance during a special Nakabandi on Ambala-Chandigarh Highway near village Dapper.
The arrested accused have been identified as Ravi Shrivastav (28) of Rampur, (UP), presently residing at Ram Darbar in Chandigarh; Harinder Sharma (47) of village Naya Gaon in SAS Nagar; and Ankush (27) of village Khudda Ali Sher in Chandigarh.
The DIG said that as the Punjab Police have strict directions from the Chief Minister to root out drug menace from the state, the Mohali Police have busted an inter-state module, which has raised serious concern about misuse of emergency services. “This has come to the fore during the investigation that how accused persons had purchased a second hand Ambulance and started using it for smuggling of drugs,” he said.
Investigations have revealed that this was at least for the 10th-12th time accused persons have used the ambulance to smuggle opium.
DIG Bhullar said that he has also asked all the three SSPs in the range to hold meeting with representatives of all the Hospitals and NGOs in their concerned districts and get the list of ambulances assigned to them, so that the police could provide safe passage to genuine patients, while nabbing the anti-social elements using the Emergency Services for criminal activities. He also suggested using a special beacon on top of the ambulance, which could signify patient in the ambulance. or not.