CHANDIGARH: Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav today announced that testing of the anti-drone system has been completed, and installations will begin shortly along the second line of defence across the border state.
Yadav said that after successful trials of the Anti-Drone System along the Indo-Pak Border, the Punjab Government is set to install the advanced system by September or October this year to intercept drones smuggling drugs and weapons.
Yadav stated that the deployment will be carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Border Security Force (BSF). "We will intercept drones bringing drugs and weapons from Pakistan. Several meetings with MHA and BSF have already taken place,"he said.
He said that the proposal to establish 30 Exclusive NDPS Act Courts, with annual expenditure of Rs 22.8 crores, is also under active consideration of the state government.
Punjab Police has achieved a significant success on the legal front by attaining 89 percent conviction rate in the NDPS act cases since March 1 which is among highest in the country he said.
As per the information, from March 1 a total of 836 NDPS Act cases were decided across the state, of which, 744 cases resulted in convictions.
"Among these cases, as many as 144 drug kingpins were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 10 years or more, demonstrating the seriousness of law enforcement and judicial processes in drug trafficking cases,"said Yadav.
He said that the government has set the deadline to bring drugs availability on street to zero by May 31, all the CPs/SSPs have been directed to personally lead the "Mission Nasha Mukt Punjab” in their respective jurisdictions by ensuring professional policing.
Pertinently, the DGP has called a review meeting of all the CPs and SSPs on Tuesday, where the district chiefs will present their plan to eradicate drugs from their respective districts by May 31.
"CPs and SSPs have been directed to plan and execute all necessary measures to achieve the target and fix a target date, not later than May 31, 2025 – by which their areas would be completely drug free,” he said, while adding that after May 31, a rigorous field assessment to be conducted using intelligence sources and other means to verify the actual ground reality.
Yadav said, "Good work will be rewarded, while, the officers who would give false claims or if their performance found not up to the mark, their accountibility and responsibility will be fixed. CPs and SSPs have already been directed to trace forward and backward linkages of the cases being registered under the NDPS act and take the cases to logical conclusion by exposing complete networks."
In a major blow to the economic infrastructure of drug smugglers, the police have arrested 31 hawala operators and seized Rs 8.03 crore in drug money.
Under the stringent 68-F NDPS Act, the state has frozen properties worth Rs 32.95 crore belonging to 81 smugglers, crippling their ability to launder money or reinvest in crime.
Additionally, 72 illegally constructed properties of drug smugglers have been demolished by local authorities in accordance with the law.
Sharing the outcomes of the ongoing 'Yudh Nashian Virudh', which has now completed 59 days, he stated that police teams have arrested 7,414 drug smugglers, including 1,877 major figures, after registering 4,659 FIRs under the NDPS Act since March 1.
They have recovered 297 kg of heroin, 100 quintals of poppy husk, 153 kg of opium, 95 kg of ganja, 21.77 lakh tablets, and Rs 8.03 crore in drug money from their possession.
Among the total arrests, 1,774 drug smugglers were apprehended from 755 identified drug hotspots during 908 targeted and effective CASO operations, he added.
Since the Punjab Police adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards the use of force against officers, Yadav stated that 62 drug smugglers or gangsters have been injured in retaliatory fire by police teams in self-defense since March 1.