Punjab police launch ‘Mission Nishchay’ in border villages to gather intelligence about demand and supply of drugs
During the drive, police officers will fan out in villages in Fazilka district from June 15 to 21 and interact with residents.
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SSP Dr Pragya Jain holding a meeting with BSF for Mission Nishchay. (Express Photo)Punjab Police in association with the Border Security Force (BSF) and Village Defence Committees (VDCs) will carry out a one-week drive against drugs in Fazilka district during which they will reach out to residents of as many as 42 villages along the India-Pakistan border to gather actionable intelligence about the demand and supply of drugs.
During the drive, named as ‘Mission Nishchay’, police officers will fan out in villages in Fazilka district from June 15 to 21 and interact with residents.
“The idea is to instil a sense of community participation among inhabitants of border villages as we make efforts to curb the menace of drugs. We will focus on youth and women to gather actionable intelligence about the demand and supply of drugs,” Fazilka Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Pragya Jain told The Indian Express.
Of the 553-km-long Punjab border with Pakistan, 108 km is in Fazilka district.
Fazilka police had last month arrested seven persons, including two brothers, and seized around 5.5 kg of heroin being smuggled into India from across the border, six mobile phones and Rs 1.07 lakh drug money, and impounded a car and three motorcycles.
Of the seven arrested persons, six were students, and five of them came in contact with each other at Jalalabad Sports Stadium where they used to prepare for army recruitment. It was during their interaction and preparations that they planned to smuggle heroin from Pakistan, police say.
Chairing a state-level review meeting with the state police brass, district police chiefs and Station House Officers in Chandigarh, on Thursday, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav stressed the need to “control the drug supply at the point of sale by further intensifying the vigil around peddlers/smugglers”. He also asked the officers to “identify big smugglers and take strict action against them to break the supply chain”.
Punjab Police seized 1,450 kg of heroin in 2023.
During the review meeting, Special DGP, anti-drug Special Task Force (STF), Kuldeep Singh told the field officers that “a dedicated helpline is being set up enabling the general public to share information about drugs confidentially”.
During the meeting, Additional Director General of Police (Counter Intelligence) Amit Prasad stressed the need to “activate the good old human intelligence and asked officers to spend time in villages to gather information about criminal elements”.
DGP Yadav asked the officers to utilise the services of recently recruited domain experts in the field of finance to uncover the trail of drug money and make maximum use of section 68F of the NDPS Act to freeze illegally acquired property by drug suppliers.
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