Mohalla committees to keep vigil on drug smugglers: DGP

The state police have now shifted focus to dismantling high-level drug networks by targeting big fish, including drug suppliers and kingpins, fuelling the narcotics trade in the state. This was stated by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

He also said taking a cue from the success of village defence committees (VDCs), the Punjab Police was now set to form Mohalla Committees in urban areas as part of its intensified war against drugs. The VDCs, comprising of trusted and prominent persons of the border villages, have been working as eyes and ears of the police and supplementing the efforts of Punjab Police to wipe out drugs from the state.

“Just as the VDCs strengthened rural policing in border areas, Mohalla Committees will empower urban communities to fight the drug menace collectively,” said DGP Yadav, while emphasising that citizen involvement was crucial to eradicate drug menace from the state.

On the street peddlers, he said, "We are not stopping at street-level arrests of drug peddlers/smugglers. Police teams are now rigorously questioning all arrested drug peddlers/smugglers to trace and identify the big fish in narcotics trade in the state,” he said while addressing a press conference at the Punjab Police Headquarters here.

The DGP said he had directed all Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) to identify and catalogue the main drug suppliers/peddlers in their respective districts within seven days.

He added that the anti-drugs campaign, ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, launched by the Punjab Government on March 1, 2025, had resulted in the arrest of 4,142 drug smugglers after the registration of 2,384 FIRs across the state and led to seizure of 146.3-kg heroin, 85.3-kg opium, 19.95-quintals poppy husk, 7.69 lakh intoxicant tablets/capsules, 1-kg ICE and Rs 5.83 crores worth drug money from the possession of drug smugglers.