Chandigarh, Jan 15 (PTI) Punjab DGP V K Bhawra on Saturday underlined the need for greater synergy between the police and central agencies to prevent the inflow of drugs into the state.
Bhawra was presiding over a virtual coordination meeting organised for reviewing the issue of drug smuggling in view of the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls.
Voting for Punjab’s 117-member Legislative Assembly will be held on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Representatives from Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Border Security Force (BSF), Delhi Police, Haryana Police, Himachal Pradesh Police, Rajasthan Police, Chandigarh Police, Madhya Pradesh Police and Jammu and Kashmir Police attended the meeting, according to an official release.
Chief drug controllers from states and union territories including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chandigarh also participated in the meeting, the statement said.
While briefing the meeting about the source of smuggling of various drugs, Bhawra stressed the need to seal interstate borders by neighbouring states and to step-up checking at the Integrated Check Post, Attari to check the smuggling of drugs in containers coming from Pakistan side, it said.
He also asked the IGP of BSF, Jalandhar, Punjab Frontier, to intensify vigil and patrolling on the international border.
The Punjab DGP urged the Gwalior-based Central Bureau of Narcotics to check the illegal supply of poppy husk and opium in areas where poppy is cultivated.
He also asked the chief drug controllers of the northern region to ensure that no illegal supply of pharmaceutical drugs takes place from their respective areas to Punjab.
He also requested the NCB to ensure that special teams are deployed to check the drug smuggling in the northern region of the country and monitor the supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine.
During the meeting, all neighbouring states and agencies decided to appoint nodal officers. These officers will share their mobile numbers and create a WhatsApp group to share any information on drugs on a real-time basis so that anyone indulging in drugs can be nabbed without wasting any time, the statement said.
All the representatives also decided to share a list of proclaimed offenders, absconders and parole jumpers facing charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
They also decided to share with each other the details of people involved in the smuggling of drugs for better-coordinated action.
The NCB will be deploying 28 teams in Punjab (one team in each district) for coordination with the state police to take effective action against the drug menace, the statement said. PTI CHS VSD DIV DIV
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Source: The Print
