New SSP (Rural) seeks people’s cooperation to check crime

PK Jaiswar

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Amritsar, February 19

The newly appointed Amritsar Senior Superintendent of Police (Rural) Satinder Singh has a challenging task ahead of him — that is of checking cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons with the help of drones by Pakistan-based anti-national elements.

However, he plans to counter this with the ‘cooperation of people’, especially those living in the border areas.

“With people’s cooperation, we would fight against the scourge of drugs in this border district. I’ll visit villages in the border areas and hold public meetings to improve liaisoning between the police and public,” he said.

Amritsar has witnessed a large number of aerial intrusions by unmanned aerial vehicles in the recent past. Amritsar police had recovered over six drones recently that were used for smuggling of narcotics and arms.

Satinder Singh said the Punjab Police have adopted a zero-tolerance approach against rampant drug smuggling and addiction and have clear instructions to deal with those involved in drug peddling with an iron hand. “We have been maintaining close contact with other agencies including the Border Security Force and intelligence agencies to nail the drug traffickers. Search operations are carried out with BSF whenever such intrusions are noticed,” he said.

Besides drugs, illegal country-made weapons were also finding their way into the border state. This has increased crime rate in the border areas. Armed robbers are striking at their will in different parts of the rural belt. About a month ago, Rs 17.50 lakh was looted from the Punjab National Bank’s Kathunangal branch.

The SSP (Rural) said the Punjab government has launched a concerted drive against gangsters and armed traffickers. Maintaining law and order is always a top priority for the police, he emphasised.

Satinder Singh said the police would be made people-friendly and it would be ensured that women and the elderly are not summoned to police stations.