Punjab Police inspect 164 pharmaceutical shops in their drive against drugs

The Punjab Police on Tuesday inspected as many as 164 pharmaceutical shops to ensure they were not selling intoxicant tablets or any other habit-forming drugs, and were adhering to the prescribed norms and regulations regarding the sale of medicines.

The inspection was conducted in six districts, including Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar Rural, Commissionerate Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Rupnagar.

Divulging details, Special DGP Law and Order Arpit Shukla said that over 250 police teams, comprising over 1,900 police personnel under the supervision of 101 gazetted officers, have conducted raids across the state and checked as many as 627 suspicious persons during the day-long operation.

Apart from this, the police teams have continued its cordon and search operation against drugs and conducted raids at 524 locations on Tuesday leading to the arrest of 69 drug smugglers after registration of 53 FIRs across the state. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 472 in just four days.

The raids have resulted in recovery of 1.5 kg heroin, 100 grams opium, 7,610 intoxicant tablets/pills/injections and Rs 1.33 lakh drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers.

CM Bhagwant Singh Mann had last week asked the Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab a drug-free state in the coming three months. The Punjab government has also constituted a 5-member Cabinet Sub Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.

He said that Punjab Police has devised a comprehensive strategy and such operations would be continued till the scourge of drugs eradicated from the state.