Police range crackdown on drugs, gangsters, terrorists sets record

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, January 3

The Ludhiana police range, comprising three police districts – Ludhiana Rural, Khanna, and Nawanshahr – have created a record of sorts under its crackdown against drugs, gangsters and terrorists during the previous year, if the official figures are any indication.

While the number of cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, arrests of the drug smugglers and recoveries of narcotics more than doubled, the illicit liquor trade registered a decline in 2022 as compared to 2021, officials have confirmed.

The illicit liquor trade witnessed a sharp decline in 2022 as 2,621.82 litres of recovery had been made last year as compared to 16,941.557 litres seized in 2021. The recovery of lahan and English wine also declined this year while the seizure of licit liquor went up from 21,674.725 litres in 2021 to 56,333.9 litres in 2022.

Ludhiana range Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kaustubh Sharma told The Tribune here on Tuesday that the police of all three districts in the range had been undertaking a sustained campaign against the smuggling of drugs and activities of gangsters and anti-social elements.

He said the war on drugs and drive against gangsters had evoked a massive response with the large number of smugglers, peddlers and gangsters landing in the police net with a huge cache of synthetic drugs since January 1 last.

The IGP said under the war against gangsters, notorious gangster Harpinder Singh, alias Rupa, with his two associates Kulwinder Singh, alias Pistol, with his associate, USA-based Amritpal Singh, alias Amrit Bal along with his seven associates had been arrested during the past year.

“A terror module was also busted with the arrest of 15 members to solve the cases of bomb blast attack at CIA staff in Nawanshahr and at the Kalwan police post in Ropar,” Dr Sharma said while adding that the seizure of 38 kg of heroin from a gangster, Rajesh Kumar, alias Sonu Khatri, was among the biggest catch made by the Nawanshahr police under the sustained campaign against drugs.

The comparative figures compiled by the Ludhiana Police Range showed that as many as 999 cases under the NDPS Act had been registered in three police districts last year as compared to 408 FIRs lodged during the corresponding period in 2021.

The number of arrests in the NDPS cases also went up to 1,354 in 2022 against 587 arrests made in 2021.

The drug recoveries included 81.172 kg opium last year as compared to 59.354 kg in 2021, 4,225.675 kg poppy husk in 2022 against 3,401.3 kg in 2021, 13.926 kg charas last year as compared to 1.4 kg in 2021, 45.736 kg heroin in 2022 against 10.146 kg in 2021, and 34 gm smack was recovered last year as compared to 33 gm recovery made in 2021.

However, the recovery of ganja declined from 195.2 kg in 2021 to 95.225 kg in 2022, and narcotic powder seizure also went down from 3.337 kg in 2021 to 2.243 kg last year.

When it comes to the arrest of gangsters, seven members of criminal gangs, including four listed under the B category and three in the C category had been apprehended in the Ludhiana police range in 2022 as compared to five gangsters, including two each of the B and C categories and another of the A category, nabbed in 2021.

Under the recovery of arms and ammunition, 63 pistols, four revolvers, a rifle, five guns, 423 cartridges, six hand grenades, two guptis, one knife, 10 detonators, 22 magazines and 4.5 kg RDX were confiscated last year.

Of the total 288 theft cases registered in 2022, 161 had been traced while property worth Rs 70,70,200 had been recovered of the total property worth Rs 3,13,82,093 stolen across three police districts last year.

Under the forcible theft cases, 136 FIRs had been registered of which 82 had been traced and property worth Rs 1,07,25,150 had been recovered from the property worth Rs 4,11,24,543 stolen in 2022.

While five of the total seven dacoity cases had been traced last year with the recovery of property worth Rs 15.96 lakh from the property worth Rs 57,21,230 stolen in these cases, five of the total eight robbery cases had been traced with the recovery of property worth Rs 60,400 of the total property worth Rs 8,77,800 stolen in 2022.

Of the total 232 burglary cases registered last year, 103 had been traced with the recovery of property worth Rs 25,47,866 of the total property worth Rs 3,28,51,250 stolen during the year.

2022 an year of achievements, says IGP

“2022 has turned out to be an year of achievements for Ludhiana police range with all its three police districts in Ludhiana Rural, Khanna, and Nawanshahr waging an unrelenting war on drugs, gangsters, notorious criminals and major crimes. Several gangs of criminals and modules of terrorists were neutralised with the record number of arrests and seizures during this year,” said Dr Kaustubh Sharma, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ludhiana police range.

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