Punjab to sack policemen colluding with drug peddlers

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Wednesday said that any police official caught colluding with drug peddlers would be dismissed.

Directing district police chiefs and commissioners of police in Punjab to come out with concrete results in containing the drug menace, he said merely arresting drug peddlers was not enough.

"You must investigate the forward and backward linkages," Badal told police officers at a meeting here Wednesday.

He said district police chiefs not showing results on this front would lose command of their area.

Badal said though there was a quantum increase in recovery of narcotics in Punjab, this should not make the police force complacent as peddlers were still trying to induce the youth to take to drugs.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini said over 6,300 drug peddlers had been arrested since April.

Saini said, "Against a seizure of just 9.8 kg heroin in 2003, Punjab Police seized 278.46 kg heroin in 2012. Up to July 31 this year, 189.45 kg heroin has been seized, indicating increased smuggling from across the border."

The DGP said 64.16 kg heroin was recovered from Amritsar rural, 34.8 kg from Tarn Taran, 28.56 from Fatehgarh Sahib and 18.86 kg from Ferozepur. Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur are border districts.