119 cops to check drugs from 3 HP villages

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, June 26

Free flow of drugs from a cluster of three villages in Himachal located close to Pathankot has sent the alarm bells ringing in the Police Department, with officers drawing up elaborate plans to snap the supply route to nip the menace in the bud.

Acting swiftly, Vivek Sheel Soni, the SSP, has stationed 119 policemen close to Channi Beli, Bhadroya and Damtaal villages, all within the jurisdiction of the Indora police station in Himachal. Officers blame the ‘Saansi’ tribe for facilitating the passage of narcotics.

“We have set up six check posts at each of the six roads leading to the drug-infested villages. Youngsters crossing over from HP are being asked to furnish details of their visits at the nakas. We have made some headway, but the problem persists,” explained the SSP.

Three motorcycles purchased recently have been deployed at these check posts. A couple of days ago, two cops on a motorcycle chased a youngster, who had crossed over to Pathankot from Damtaal, and found 20 gm of high-grade heroin on his person. Another chase yielded contraband hidden in a cavity of a scooter. An officer said addicts and sellers had begun assembling at religious places and cremation grounds as the police seldom raided such places.

“The cremation grounds are codenamed ‘airports.’ When a consignment arrives, peddlers send across the message that a plane has landed (jahaz land kar gya).” We have made several arrests from these ‘airports’.

The SSP said: “Old churches, particularly those on the town’s outskirts, and dilapidated schoolbuildings too are being used by the peddlers. We raided all such places last week.”