90% accused under NDPS Act in Kangra are Himachal youth

Many local youths are taking to drug peddling in Kangra district. About 90 per cent of the drug peddlers arrested in Kangra district last year were from the state.

As per the data collected from Kangra police in 2024, they registered 149 cases under the NDPS Act against drug peddlers operating in the district. In those cases, 245 people were arrested, including 235 males and 10 females. Out of them, as many as 215 were residents of Himachal and 30 were from other states, majority from the adjoining state of Punjab.

In 2024, Kangra police seized 24 kg charas most of which is produced in Himachal, 194 gm of opium which comes into Himachal from other states like Punjab or Rajasthan and 873 gm heroin that comes to the state from adjoining states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

The police confiscated cash and jewellery worth Rs 43.74 lakh from the arrested drug peddlers. They also confiscated 33 vehicles — worth about Rs 81 lakh — used for peddling.

Till date in 2025, 67 cases have been registered in Kangra district under the NDPS Act in which 120 people have been arrested. Out of them, 101 are from Himachal and 19 from outside the state. In these 67 cases, the police have seized 503 gm of ‘chitta’ or heroin from the accused. They have also confiscated 16 vehicles used in drug peddling.

Shalini Agnihotri, SSP Kangra, said that the police have achieved major success in busting drug peddling modules in the district last year.

In 2024, a major success was achieved by the police after they arrested a major supplier of heroin who was supplying contraband to peddlers functioning in Kangra district. During investigation of cases registered under NDPS Act, the accused had revealed that they had bought the contraband from a dealer named Langra Ram from Hoshiarpur and they had also sent money to the dealer.

The Dharamsala police found Langra Ram wandering in Dharamsala last year along with driver Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Ghandi camp, Jalandhar. During the search of their vehicle, heroin weighing 54 gm was found. The arrest of Langra Ram was a major success for the police, Shalini Agnihotri said.

She said that the police would also resort to preventive arrest of habitual drug peddlers under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT NDPS) Act.

Despite the police crackdown, the increasing use of synthetic drugs by youth in the region has caused concern in the state. The law enforcement agencies are concerned about the involvement of local youth in peddling of drugs to make a quick buck.