Asif Iqbal
Srinagar, Dec 24 (GNS): In its sustained campaign aimed at cracking down on drug smugglers and stamping out the menace from society, Jammu and Kashmir Police during the ongoing year booked 45 persons under stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in twin north Kashmir districts – Baramulla and Kupwara.
Details available with GNS suggest that police in Baramulla district arrested 121 persons in 90 cases registered under NDPS Act and on ascertaining the (higher) degree of involvement in the prohibited activity, recommended and booked twelve of them under Public Safety Act (PSA).
The details put the worth of the seized contraband, as on date, to be approximately 36.38 Crores – Brown Sugar 2.241 Kilograms (Approximately 2.24 Crores), Heroin 34.642 Kilograms (Approximately 33.94 Crores) and Charas 5.94 Kilograms (Approximately 20 lacs).
Similarly a total of 161 persons have been arrested in 85 cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in neighbouring Kupwara district (in the ongoing year so far).
Out of the 161 persons 33 people have been detained and lodged in different jails under PSA (PIT-NDPS Act).
A police official told GNS that the senior officers’ of the department in respective districts have come down hard against the drug peddlers in the recent past. “We have been witnessing an ever enhanced vigil on such activities in both the districts”, the official said adding “Not only initiating action against those directly involved in the activity, the law enforcement agencies held seminars throughout the year especially at educational institutions to generate awareness about the ill-effects of drug consumption”, the official said.
The official reiterated the appeal and urged the people to desist from indulging in such activities, contrary to which action as mandated by law would be taken. (GNS)