Nurpur: No let-up in drug peddling despite crackdown

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, November 19

With the establishment of Nurpur as a new police district in the state, the crackdown against small and inter-state drug peddlers has intensified. However, the police pressure has so far failed to deter habitual drug traffickers though several of them have been arrested.

The district police have adopted a professional approach in launching crackdowns against drug peddlers, resulting in an increase in the number of cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act over the past 15 months. The presence of habitual offenders in Nurpur and Indora subdivisions has become a challenge for the police to check the drug menace.

Repeat offenders can get 1-yr detention

• The district police have adopted a professional approach in launching crackdowns against drug peddlers, resulting in rise in the number of cases registered under the NDPS Act
• Nurpur SP Ashok Ratan says that habitual offenders can be put under one-year preventive detention for indulging in drug peddling. The police can also seize their properties

As per information, the police arrested a habitual drug peddler of Nagabari in Nurpur from Dah near Indora on November 5 and seized 11.11gm of heroin (chitta) from his possession. He was arrested with regard to four NDPS Act cases registered against him in 2014, 2021 and in February and September this year. Even four court trials and repeated arrests have failed to deter him from indulging in drug trafficking. He continued to sell drugs to the youth in the area after getting bail from courts.

Similarly, following a tip-off, the Damtal police on November 14 arrested a woman drug peddler from Chhanni with 8.05 gm of ‘’chitta’’. A case under the NDPS Act was registered against her. She was first arrested in 2009 with illicit liquor and with poppy husk in 2015. She was again arrested in 2020 with ‘’chitta’’ and sedative capsules and in April this year for possessing heroin.

Four cases were registered against her under the NDPS Act and the Excise Act but she being a habitual offender did not refrain from drug peddling. Police sources say that the state government recently issued a notification for the implementation of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and also constituted an advisory board for the purpose.

Nurpur SP Ashok Ratan says that habitual offenders can be put under one-year preventive detention for indulging in drug peddling. The police can also seize their properties amassed through ill-gotten money.