Properties of drug peddlers worth Rs 12.04 cr attached last year: Police
Jammu and Kashmir Police attached properties worth Rs 12.04 crore of those involved in drug smuggling in the year 2024, revealed a senior police officer during the NCORD committee meeting in Jammu on Wednesday. The police also booked 274 drug kingpins last year, he added.
Inspector General, Crime, Sunil Kumar said properties worth Rs 50 crore were currently under attachment process. Talking about the action taken against drug kingpins, he said 274 drug kingpins were booked under PIT NDPS Act in 2024, compared to 270 in 2023 and 195 in 2022.
“Regarding disciplinary actions against employees involved in NDPS cases, 15 civil employees (out of 143 cases), 69 police personnel (out of 175) and 9 army personnel were disembodied (out of 19 cases) for their involvement in NDPS cases,” he told the meeting.
Also, 2,737 officers were trained by Anti-Narcotics Task Force in districts to improve conviction rates, which resulted in improving conviction rates from 23% in 2022 to 51% in 2023 and further jumping to 54% in 2024.
Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, who chaired the meeting, emphasised strict enforcement of relevant laws, proper rehabilitation of victims and massive awareness generation to effectively tackle the drug menace in the Union Territory.
He maintained that strict action against the drug dealers would act as an effective deterrent for the people involved with this illicit practice. He called upon the investigation and prosecution agencies to prepare strong cases against such unscrupulous elements. He observed that sometimes tardy investigations and weak prosecutions lead to early acquittals of the arrested persons.
Dulloo exhorted upon the Police Department to enhance the capacity of both investigation officers and public prosecutors so that the cases framed against the culprits succeed in making convictions in the court of law.
The Chief Secretary also enjoined upon the department to be strict against the police officers found defaulting on framing strong cases against the drug dealers. He also made out that the government employees found involved in NDPS cases should be taken to task as per the laws in vogue.
J&K’s Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat explained that there is huge paradigm shift in taking up of investigations under NDPS and PITNDPS Acts. He revealed that actions against these persons have increased manifold with focussed attention of the department towards curbing this illicit trade.
Prabhat said the attachment of properties together with other strict measures being taken by police force are showing its impact on ground.
Principal Secretary, Home, Chandraker Bharti, while speaking in the meeting, asked the police department to make full use of national portals like NIDAAN to trace the forward and backward links of the case. He recalled that PITNDPS has been very effective in dealing with this illegal practice after devising its SoPs by the department.
