DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Police has shifted focus to dismantling high-level drug networks by targeting big fish, including drug suppliers and kingpins fuelling the narcotics trade in the state, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday. "We are not stopping at street-level arrests of drug peddlers and smugglers," said the DGP here.

"Punjab Police teams are now rigorously questioning all the arrested drug peddlers and smugglers to trace and identify the big fish in the narcotics trade in the state," he said. The development came close on the heels of the DGP Punjab directing all the Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) to identify and catalogue the main drug suppliers in their respective districts within seven days.

Yadav said the anti-drugs campaign 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' launched by the Punjab Government on March 1, 2025, has resulted in arrest of 4,142 drug smugglers after registration of 2,384 first information reports (FIRs) across the state and led to recovery of 146.3 kg heroin, 85.3 kg opium, 19.95 quintals poppy husk, 7.69 lakh intoxicant tablets or capsules, 1 kg ICE and Rs 5.83 crore cash from the possession of drug smugglers.

He revealed that the ongoing crackdown has led to a drastic reduction in street-level drug availability, prompting police to now pursue the big fish behind the supply chain.

He said all the police officers have already been mandated to personally oversee the mapping exercise to prepare details of the suppliers funnelling drugs in their respective areas and catalogue them on the basis of interrogation reports, public tips, intelligence inputs, data from the safe Punjab helpline and backwards and forward linkages unveiled in criminal investigations under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The DGP further said that taking a cue from the success of village defence committees (VDCs), the police are now set to form 'Mohalla Committees' in urban areas as part of its intensified war against drugs.

Notably, VDCs, comprising trusted and prominent persons of the border villages, have been working as eyes and ears of the Police and supplementing the efforts of Punjab Police to wipe out drugs from the state.

"Just as VDCs strengthened rural policing in border areas, Mohalla Committees will empower urban communities to fight the drug menace collectively," said Yadav, while emphasising that citizen involvement is crucial to eradicate drug menace from the state. The DGP also urged people to make maximum use of Safe Punjab Anti-Drug Helpline '9779100200' to report drug traffickers anonymously.

(editor@dailyworld.in)