With the Punjab Police busting a major narco-terror racket, having alleged links to one of India’s biggest drug smuggling kingpins and also the suspected involvement of a former SSB member appointed by the erstwhile Akali regime, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday asserted that he would not spare anyone found implicated in the case, irrespective of their political affiliations.Making it clear that his government would not allow drug smugglers, narco gangsters and narco-terrorists to spread their wings in the state, which had witnessed massive decline in the number of deaths due to drug abuse, as a result of the efforts of the government and the police. The deaths come down from 114 in 2018 to 47 in 2019, he disclosed at a press conference here, adding that his government would not give up the fight against drugs till the problem is rooted out completely.Giving details of last night’s arrests and seizures, the Chief Minister said the house in village Sultanwind, from which the police seized nearly 195 kilograms of heroin along with chemicals last night in the Amritsar border region, allegedly belonged to Anwar Masih, who was a member of the Subordinate Services Board (SSB) – an appointee of the previous SAD-BJP government.Investigations were in progress to ascertain Masih’s involvement, who claims to have rented out the house to the accused arrested last night by the STF Border Range, said Captain Amarinder. However, Masih had so far failed to produce any written rent agreement and the people of the area were also unaware of any tenants living there, he said. Preliminary investigations had revealed that the accused had been using the premises for the past one month.Congratulating the police on the seizure and arrests, Captain Amarinder said initial investigations suggested that the drug network was linked with Simranjit Singh Sandhu, one of the biggest drug mafiosi of the country, who has recently been detained in Italy. His government would seek remand of Sandhu, who holds an Australian passport and was detained in Italy on an Interpol police from the Gujarat authorities.
The seizure, said the Chief Minister, appeared to be a part of the consignment of 300 kgs of drugs that arrived in Mandavi in Gujarat last year, and of which 200 kg was smuggled into Punjab. The consignment had been traced to Sandhu, while efforts were also on to trace the other big fish involved in the case.Giving further details of last night’s seizure and arrests, the Chief Minister said six persons, including an Afghan national identified as Armaan Basharmal, have so far been arrested, with 194.15 kgs of heroin and several kgs of chemicals seized from their possession. A lot of equipment used for refining of heroin and mixing it with other products has also been seized from Armaan, who had come to Punjab a week ago.Interrogation of Sandhu and further investigations in the case would lead to others involved in the case and would also reveal whether the drugs were meant for Punjab or for distribution outside the state, said the Chief Minister, in reply to a question.In response to questions about his government’s success in combating the drug problem, the Chief Minister said the efforts of the Special Task Force (STF) had led to a major crackdown, with 35500 cases registered under the NDPS Act between March 2017 and January 2020 (before the present case). In this period, 44500 smugglers/peddlers have been arrested and 11000 are currently in prison, disclosed the Chief Minister, adding that these efforts had led to a dramatic increase in the seizure of heroin (1100 kg from March 2017 to Jan 2020, in addition to 194.15 kgs seized last night).As part of the incentives programme, Panchayats that report 100% drug free villages will be given special grants, he said.
As far as rehabilitation was concerned, the Buddy and DAPO programmes were working well and so far around 3.5 lakh drug victims had visited the rehabilitation, OOAT and de-addiction centres.Admitting that use of drones in recent months to smuggle weapons and drugs into Punjab was a matter of serious concern for the state, the Chief Minister said his government had sought anti-drone devices from the Centre to tackle the problem. Unfortunately, he said, Punjab, along with Delhi, had over the years emerged as a lucrative market for drugs, encouraging smugglers from other states and narco terrorists from Pakistan to push narcotics into the state. His government was working closely with other northern states, sharing regular information, to combat the problem, said Captain Amarinder. With the DGPs of these states meeting every month, there was significant progress in cracking down on the drug smugglers, he said, pointing out that the Chief Ministers had also agreed to meet every six months.Drugs, said the Chief Minister, was a global problem and it was a tough battle, which his government was going all out to fight. He recalled that his government had given a list of drug dealers to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which had led to some change for the positive, with the Canadian authorities taking action against the smugglers.In response to a question, the Chief Minister emphasised that industrial development and employment generation were the key to weaning youth away from the drugs menace, which was affecting the whole world, including the advanced nations. Replying to another question, the Chief Minister said he would look into the need to revise and add more chapters about drug abuse awareness in school curriculum.