Amritsar: In three months, a concerted campaign against narcotics resulted in the recovery of 99 kg of heroin

One of the key concerns in the lead-up to the general elections for the 18th Lok Sabha is the ongoing drug trade in the border area, which is made up of the Amritsar (Rural) police and the Amritsar police commissionerate.

The Punjab Police have found almost 99 kg of heroin that was transported across the international border barrier using drones in the last three months.

According to statistics obtained, since January 1, both the city and rural police have made 337 arrests of drug dealers and 214 First Information Reports (FIRs) in accordance with the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The international border is patrolled by rural police, and they have successfully seized 65 kg of contraband. In addition, 34 kilograms of heroin were seized by the municipal police.

When the local police found 2 kg of ice substance that had been trafficked from Pakistan for the first time, they also detected a new pattern.

“The Punjab Police have launched a concerted drive against drug peddlers and smashed a number of narco modules being operated by gangsters turned smugglers from foreign shores, including Canada, the USA, and Malaysia,” said Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, the Police Commissioner (CP).

“After determining their backward and forward links, we are now taking investigations to the next level by destroying the entire network,” he said. “One of the goals of the campaign to remove the threat from the border state is to disrupt the drug supply chain,” he said.

The issue with Amritsar (Rural) police, being a border district, is to apprehend cross-border traffickers, said Satinder Singh, SSP. In the last few years, there has been a significant surge in the smuggling of narcotics via unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.

“We have established a second line of defense by installing special nakas in border districts,” he said. Additionally, CCTV cameras are being put in place to monitor traffickers’ activities when they cross the border to pick up drug shipments that drones have dropped. In addition to heroin, the police also found 56 kg of poppy husk and 17 kg of opium. Additionally, the rural police have seized drugs worth Rs 1.17 crore.