Amarinder Singh reiterated his demand for a national drug policy to tackle the menace of drugs (File)
Seized drugs including 659 kg heroin valuing Rs 1,318 crore in the international market were destroyed by the Punjab government on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Saturday.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh reiterated his demand for a national drug policy to tackle the menace of drugs, according to an official statement issued. Besides heroin, other narcotics which were destroyed included 3,000 kg of poppy husk, pills/capsules worth Rs 5.8 crore, 166 kg ganja, and 5 kg charas, it said.
Mr Singh digitally launched the "live destruction" in Amritsar carried out by a special team led by Commissioner of Police (Amritsar) Sukhchain Singh Gill, it added.
Mr Singh also underlined the need for better collaboration between the special task force, police and Intelligence wing to eliminate drugs from the state.
Calling for the support of all stakeholders to fight the drug menace, which he termed a global problem, the chief minister claimed the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi had agreed to put in place an effective mechanism for tackling drug smuggling, but no significant progress has been made.
Asserting his government's zero tolerance towards drugs, Mr Singh attributed the problem to the strong nexus between smugglers, gangsters and terrorists who were promoting narco-terrorism in the state.
Interacting with the people, the chief minister said most of the drugs, especially heroin, are smuggled into Punjab from Afghanistan via Pakistan through Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi and even Nepal.
He termed it as a "Pakistani conspiracy" to weaken Punjab's youth and weaning them from joining the armed forces and cited the instances of drug drops via drones and seizure of 700 kg of heroin smuggled into Punjab through Kandla port.
In addition, several deadly weapons have been smuggled by Pakistan through the Uri sector in Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
On the progress made in the fight against drugs, the chief minister said Punjab had successfully got two ''A category'' gangsters deported -- Sukhpreet Budhha from Armenia in 2019 and Sukh Bhikhariwal from UAE in 2021.
Gaurav Patiyal is in the process of being deported from Armenia while Ramanjit Romi, a handler of gangsters, is being brought back from Hong Kong, he added. Further, efforts are on to bring back gangsters Harry Chattha from Portugal and Gagan Hathur from Australia, he said.
Earlier, Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said medicines worth Rs 70 crore were being given every year to people undergoing treatment for drug de-addiction.
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said since Punjab shares around 550-km-long border with Pakistan, it has become a major transit route to smuggle heroin, mainly produced in Afghanistan, to other states across the country.
Pakistan has established a huge smuggling infrastructure at the borders to smuggle heroin into drugs in Punjab, using different methods including rivers, border fencing, and sea route.
He said, "over 420 big fish" (those caught with over 2 kg heroin) were arrested in the last four years.
The Punjab Police had also managed to nab the most wanted narco smuggler Ranjit Cheeta from Sirsa, the DGP said.
He said the Punjab Police have also arrested some police personnel, Army and BSF jawans, found involved in drug smuggling. In the last four years, police have forfeited illegal property worth Rs 233 crores under NDPS, he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)