With the special drive to arrest proclaimed offenders (POs) and absconders in NDPS Act cases entering its 7th week, the weekly arrests of POs and absconders have witnessed a significant surge as Punjab Police has managed to arrest those POs and absconders in NDPS Act cases who have been evading arrest since the 1980s and 1990s. In the last week, there have been 45 such POs/absconders.So far, a total of 186 POs/Absconders in NDPS Act cases have been arrested since July 5, 2022, including 46 nabbed from out of state.
Divulging details, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Sukhchain Singh Gill said that Gurdeep Singh alias Kaku of Kotla Hoshiarpur, who was declared PO in November 1985, has been arrested by the Ludhiana Commissionerate Police. Amarjit Singh, a PO from 1988, has been arrested by Fatehgarh Sahib Police, and Mohinder Singh, of village Dabalkheri in Haryana, who was declared PO in 1989, has been arrested by Sangrur Police. Similarly, at least three nabbed POs are those who have been evading arrest since the 1990s, he added.
Giving weekly updates on drugs, the IGP said that Punjab Police have arrested 335 drug smugglers/suppliers after registering 251 first information reports (FIRs), including 22 commercial, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act across the state in the last one week.
After conducting cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas and laying nakas at vulnerable routes across the state, the police recovered 9.76Kg of heroin, 8.68Kg of opium, 11.56Kg of Ganja, nine quintals of poppy husk, and 49k tablets/capsules/injections/vials of Pharma opioids, in addition to recovering Rs 40.50 lakh in drug money.
Meanwhile, the DGP has strictly ordered all the CPs/SSPs to further tighten the noose around drug smugglers by identifying all top drug smugglers and the hotspots infamous for drug smuggling in their jurisdictions and launching a combing operation to nab all those selling or smuggling drugs. He also directed the police chiefs to effectively forfeit the property of all the arrested drug smugglers so that their ill-gotten money could be recovered.