Punjab Police attain 89 pc conviction rate in NDPS cases, says DGP Yadav

Chandigarh, April 28 Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said here on Monday that the Punjab Police have achieved significant success on the legal front by attaining 89 per cent conviction rate in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act cases since March 1, among the highest in the country.

From March 1, a total of 836 NDPS Act cases were decided in the state, of which 744 resulted in convictions.

"Among these cases, 144 drug kingpins were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 10 years or more, demonstrating the seriousness of law enforcement and judicial processes in drug trafficking cases," the DGP told the media here.

Accompanying Special DGP (Anti-Narcotics Task Force) Kuldeep Singh, Additional DGP (ANTF) Nilabh Kishore, DGP Yadav said the state government has set the deadline to bring drugs availability on street to zero by May 31, all Commissioners of Police (CPs) and the Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) have been directed to personally lead the "Mission Nasha Mukt Punjab" in their respective jurisdictions by ensuring professional policing.

The DGP has called a review meeting on Tuesday, where the district chiefs will present their plan to eradicate drugs from their respective districts by May 31.

"The CPs and the SSPs have been directed to plan and execute all necessary measures to achieve the target and fix a target date, not later than May 31, by which their areas would be completely drug-free," he said, adding that after May 31 a rigorous field assessment would be conducted using intelligence sources and other means to verify the actual ground reality.

Stressing on the need for maximum citizen participation to eradicate the scourge of drugs, DGP Yadav urged people to make maximum use of Safe Punjab Anti-Drug Helpline '9779100200' to report drug traffickers anonymously, citing every tip received on the helpline is being monitored on a daily basis and the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has been personally reviewing the progress.

Punjab Police have registered 503 FIRs and arrested 659 people from the information received from the public on the Safe Punjab Drug Helpline, the DGP said.

The DGP added that the police have formed a three-pronged strategy -- dismantling hawala networks, freezing assets and bulldozing illegal constructions -- to break the financial backbone of drug smuggling.

Giving a major setback to economic infrastructure of drug smugglers, the police have arrested 31 hawala operators, seized Rs 8.03 crore in drug money from their possession, and frozen properties of Rs 32.95 crore belonging to 81 smugglers, crippling their ability to launder money or reinvest in crime.

Additionally, 72 illegally constructed properties of drug smugglers have been demolished by local authorities in accordance with law.

DGP Yadav said with the trials of anti-drone system have been conducted along the India-Pakistan border, the state government is all set to install this advanced systems to intercept drones smuggling drugs and weapons by September or October.

He added that the proposal to establish 30 exclusive NDPS Act Courts, with annual expenditure of Rs 22.8 crore, is also under active consideration of the state government.

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