Uttarakhand police to crack down on drug traffickers, seize their properties

The Uttarakhand police will crack down on drug-trafficking kingpins and seize their properties, apart from launching a drive in educational institutions to check abuse by students, said officials involved in the fight against the menace.

The high court had recently asked the state administration and police to curb drug menace and arrest the kingpins, instead of small peddlers. The police formed a 3-tier anti-drug task force (ADTF) at local police station, district, and state levels to nab drug traffickers. The state-level ADTF is led by a special task force (STF).

“The focus is now to nab the kingpins of drug trade. A few days ago police arrested kingpin Gurcharan who was behind drug trade in Rishikesh,” said Ashok Kumar, additional director general of police, law &order. “Police have identified other kingpins who would soon be nabbed. Police will seize their properties, so that the loss will deal them a major blow.”

Police have found that maximum drugs are smuggled from neighbouring states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Traffickers buy drugs at lower prices in those places and sell them at higher prices to students and youths in Dehradun and other major cities, such as Rishikesh and Haldwani.

Two men were nabbed with 20gm smack worth Rs 1.30 lakh from Dehradun on September 26 night. During interrogation the two told the police that they brought the drug from a dealer in Bareilly (UP) to sell it to students and youths in Dehradun.

Police have also formed anti-drug committees in schools and colleges to check abuse by students. “The district superintendents of police will meet members of the committees to chalk out strategies to save students from drugs,” Kumar said. “Police will take action against an educational institution if any of its student is found taking drugs on the campus or near it.”

Kumar said NGOs have been roped in to run awareness programmes in educational institutions. “The focus is on awareness and enforcement to end the menace. Special attention will be paid to places, such as Prem Nagar, Patel Nagar and Bindal Pull in Dehradun, which report maximum drug dealings.”

Kumar said the arrested drug trade accused would be put to “multi-layer intense” interrogations. “Local police, ADTF and intelligence units will interrogate the accused to extract maximum information about the sources of drug and major players involved.”