War on drugs: Two women among 28 smugglers arrested in a week
Waging a no-holds-barred war on drugs, the Khanna police have arrested at least 28 smugglers, including two women, in 14 separate cases registered under various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) during the past week.
New woman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dr Jyoti Yadav, is leading from the front the special drive against drugs by launching an offensive against those involved in the illegal trade and reaching out to villagers and residents of vulnerable areas to seek their help and support.
The 2019-batch Punjab-cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who took charge of the police district here on February 22, has been leading the cordon, search and seizure operations, besides holding one-to-one public interactions in rural and urban areas, especially those notorious for drug trade.
In a major blow to drug lords, as many as 18 most notorious smugglers booked by the Khanna police have lost their properties worth over Rs 8 crore.
The district police have already seized the illegally acquired properties by the 18 drug lords valued over Rs 8.06 crore. However, two cases with a proposal to seize property worth Rs 14 lakh have been rejected by the competent authority for technical reasons.
The forfeiture of the illegally acquired properties by the drug lords was done under the provisions of the Chapter V-A under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act.
The development assumes significance as Ludhiana, under which Khanna falls, which was earlier famous for all good reasons and popularly known as Manchester of India, had recently attained the dubious distinction of being the hotspot for illegal drug trade.
The recent disclosure by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had further put the district, in terms of area and population, under focus for being the hub of an international drug syndicate linked to Punjab, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The NCB’s drug bust holds credence as cases registered under various provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, suspects arrested and recoveries of contraband and intoxicant substances have also increased manifold in the state’s industrial and business capital.
Dr Yadav told The Tribune here on Monday that the fool-proof prosecution cases had led to the conviction of 18 drug lords, whose properties have been seized while the cases of the other smugglers, whose assets have also been seized, were undertrial and in the advanced stage of decision.
She said the district police had been waging a war on drugs and all-out efforts were being made to catch smugglers and peddlers involved in the illegal trade, recover the contraband and, in turn, prevent narcotics-related offences.
“A total of 20 cases for forfeiture of properties worth Rs 8.2 crore illegally acquired by the drug lords had been sent to the competent authority in the past two years, of which 18 cases had been approved with assets amounting to over Rs 8.06-crore forfeited while two cases to forfeit properties worth Rs 14 lakh had been rejected for technical reasons,” the SSP revealed while stating that the rejected cases were being examined afresh.
Samrala hotspot
If areas where drug lords, whose illegally acquired properties have been seized, are taken into consideration, Samrala has emerged as a hotspot with a maximum of six of the total 15 cases registered there. While Machhiwara and Khanna had registered three cases each, one case each was from Laoud, Morinda and Jalandhar.
Lone woman
Amanjot Kaur, alias Soni, was the lone woman drug smuggler among 18 drug lords, whose illegally acquired properties have been forfeited by the Khanna police. She was booked under the NDPS Act at the Samrala police station in 2023 and has since been convicted as well.
18 of 20 cases approved
The Khanna police had sent proposals to seize illegally acquired properties of 20 drug lords under Chapter V-A under Section 68-F the NDPS Act to the competent authority, of which 18 cases had been approved while two cases had been rejected.
Property forfeiture a deterrent
"We have adopted a zero tolerance approach against those involved in the illegal trade of drugs while targeting the big fish under our sustained offensive against drugs. The forfeiture of properties illegally acquired by drug smugglers will act as a deterrent and will continue in future as well," said Dr Jyoti Yadav, SSP, Khanna.
