DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH

On the first day of Operation Prahar-2, a drive against wanted criminals, the Punjab Police conducted statewide raids on Monday and arrested over 1,200 persons, an official said. The police conducted 2,760 raids at locations linked to wanted criminals, the police officer said. Notably, further intensifying the ongoing "Gangstran Te Vaar" (war on gangsters) campaign, on February 8, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav launched a 72-hour-long "Operation Prahaar-2", focused on nabbing wanted criminals.

Senior officers from Punjab Police Headquarters have visited different police districts to lead the operation.

Sharing details of the first day of the operation, Special DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla said as part of the operation, more than 2,000 police teams comprising around 12,000 personnel have conducted raids at locations linked to wanted criminals across Punjab.

He said as many as 1,895 individuals were rounded up, of which 1,250 were arrested, including 40 proclaimed offenders and 298 preventive detentions. Apart from this, the police verified 666 persons and released them after questioning. People can anonymously report information related to wanted criminals and gangsters, and share tips on crime and criminal activity, through an Anti-Gangster Helpline 93946-93946, he said.

Earlier on January 20, the Punjab Police had launched Operation Prahar, a statewide drive to dismantle the entire ecosystem of organised crime.

Meanwhile, police have continued their drive against drugs "Yudh Nashian Virudh" for 345th day with 72 drug smugglers arrested on Monday and recovered 26.4 kg heroin, 772 intoxicant tablets/capsules and Rs 12.17 lakhs drug money from their possession. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 48,331 in just 345 days.

(editor@dailyworld.in)