Punjab Police has set a May 31st deadline to arrest all drug traffickers in the state. All the district police chiefs have been instructed to prepare a concrete action plan to meet the deadline for making a Drug Free State under the ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh’ campaign launched on March 1st. Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said during a Press Conference today that any discrepancy found in the action plan and drugs recovered after the deadline, the concerned officer would face the music.

Mr Yadav also disclosed that out of the total 836 decided cases, 744 have been convicted out of whom 144 have been awarded more than 10 years prison under NDPS Act. He said 755 drug spots have been identified in the state and many properties of drug peddlers made with drug money after illegally occupying the land have been demolished. At the same time, 31 Big Hawala Operators have also been arrested and Rs. 8 crore Hawala money has been seized from them.     

Our correspondent reports that people of Punjab have finally started coming forward to make their state drug-free to save their own and others’ children, many of whom are getting addicted and are dying due to overdose. Since the launch of the ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh’ on March 1st, 4000 anonymous calls from the public have been received on the Safe Punjab Anti-Drug Helpline. It has resulted in registering 503 FIRs and arresting 659 drug peddlers.