Jalandhar sees almost three-fold rise in heroin seizure this year - Hindustan Times
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Jalandhar sees almost three-fold rise in heroin seizure this year

Hindustan Times, Chandigarh | By, Jalandhar
Dec 31, 2019 12:06 AM IST

There was almost three-fold rise in seizure of heroin in Jalandhar as compared to the previous year recoveries. Jalandhar rural police have seized 37kg heroin, including 10kg from 16 foreign national smugglers, this year against 14kg heroin, including 6kg heroin from 10 international smugglers, in 2018.

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Even the seizure of drugs was not this high in 2017 here when the police had launched a special crackdown on the directions of newly formed Congress government to root out drug menace.

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According to the information, the district police have seized 7kg heroin, including 800gm seizure from 1 international smuggler, in 2017 and 2.6 kg heroin in 2016 while 13kg, including 2.5 kg recovery from one international peddler, was made in 2015.

There was a spike in the seizure of opium as well as it shot up by five times with the police seizing 66kg opium against 14kg seizure in 2015.

The unprecedented rise is attributed to unabated drugs smuggling from neighbouring states, especially from Delhi, throughout the year and increased police vigil.

A police officer said that smugglers are shifting base to Delhi from Pakistan and Afghanistan due to increased checking. The drug mafia now considers Delhi as a transit hub and the areas such as outer Delhi and west Delhi are emerging as centres of supply.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Navjot Singh said that this year was a record drug seizure due to intense vigil by police teams.

“16 international smugglers, including 4 women peddlers, were caught smuggling over 10 kg heroin from Delhi to the state by my team. Heroin is smuggled from Delhi while Poppy husk is being brought from Jammu and Kashmir and opium comes from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” SSP said.

Local drug peddlers confessed to having bought these drugs, especially heroin, from Delhi to sell in Jalandhar at higher margin, Mahal said, adding that they preferred public road transport to push contraband into the state.

Besides heroin recovery, there has been a substantial rise in the seizure of other banned substances along with arrests made under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in the last five years.

This year, 1,201 persons have been arrested in 953 cases. In the previous year, police booked 1,117 people and registered 950 FIRs while 1,742 people were arrested and 1583 FIRs lodged 2017. In 2016, rural police registered 279 FIRs and arrested 361 persons while in 2015 police booked 1,151 people in 980 cases under the NDPS Act.

The police also seized 65kg opium, 2,428kg poppy husk, 70kg ganja, 36kg charas, 68,070 capsules and other drug substances this year. The rural police recovered 37kg opium, 6,091kg poppy husk, 6.6kg ganja, 6.6kg charas, 47,063 capsules in 2018.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Jatinder Mahal is a staff correspondent. He covers Jalandhar, Kapurthala and SBS Nagar district for Hindustan Times.

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