Deal strictly with cops aiding drug traffickers: Pb CM tells DGP

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Friday directed the state police chief to deal strictly with officers assisting drug traffickers in the state.

Amarinder Singh also asked the head of the Special Task Force, constituted to combat drug menace, to identify and take strict action against such police officers, especially those posted in the border districts of the state.

Chairing a high-level meeting of the STF here, the chief minister issued strict instructions to Punjab Police DGP Dinkar Gupta to deal with an iron hand with the policemen engaged in the illegal activity.

He directed the Additional Director General of Police and STF head, Gurpreet Kaur Deo, to constitute two STF teams in all border districts to work in close coordination with the concerned police officers in order to eradicate the scourge of drugs.

He said the guilty police officers should not be spared at any cost, as per an official statement here.

Amarinder Singh asked the State Advocate General to form a panel of eminent legal luminaries, including retired judges, lawyers, legal experts and jurists, to impart practical training to the police personnel to enable them to effectively present their cases in the courts.

"Such hands-on training would equip the police officials handling legal cases against drug traffickers/peddlers/smugglers in an effective and result oriented manner," he said.

"The expert panel so constituted would also train the police officials with the tools to overcome the technical legal infirmities and procedural loopholes being exploited by those arrested in drugs cases," he added.

Amarinder Singh also ordered the Health Department to regularly monitor the working of private drug de-addiction centres, which he said, were providing deficient services while charging exorbitant rates for the treatment of addicts, to check such exploitation.

The chief minister also appealed to the drug addicts and their families to come forward and avail the best possible treatment being provided at government-run de-addiction and rehabilitation centres and "not fall prey to unscrupulous elements in the private sector".