Didn’t transfer cops due to drug nexus; Pakistan ISI behind menace: Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

Two days after Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann announced the transfer of nearly 10,000 lower-rank police officials over their alleged connivance with drug peddlers, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav strongly defended the personnel and cited administrative reasons behind the move.

Police alone can’t fight this battle

A multipronged strategy against drugs is in the works, but the police alone can’t fight drugs. Other agencies of the state as well as the Centre must chip in.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune for “Decode Punjab” show, DGP Yadav, while speaking on several aspects of drug smuggling, said they had evidence about the involvement of the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

“It (ISI) is behind drug smuggling in Punjab. It is the main actor behind narco-terrorism in India,” he said. The DGP said Pakistan, whose economy was in poor shape, seemed to be living off illicit drug trade. “Since 2019, as many as 906 drones have been sent from across the border. This year too, the Punjab Police in coordination with the BSF shot down 101 of 247 drones so far.”

The menace, which has been bugging the state for decades, once again came to the fore following the death of 14 persons allegedly due to drug overdose this month.

The DGP stressed, “I would like to put it on record that nobody in this reshuffle is involved (in drug-related cases). There is no taint on anyone. These transfers were part of the state policy formed in 2020, which requires the shifting of police officials from one station after a certain number of years.”

At the same time, he insisted he had a zero-tolerance policy towards connivance with drug smugglers. “The police have delivered. But there could be black sheep too. We have dismissed our people. We have also taken criminal action, filed FIRs and arrested police officials for involvement in drug cases,” Yadav said.

On the police’s failure to arrest dismissed and drug-tainted cop Raj Jit Singh for over a year, the DGP said, “The ADGP of the Special Task Force (STF) against drugs, Nilabh Kishore, is on it.” Claiming that a blueprint of a multipronged strategy against drugs was in the works, the DGP insisted the Punjab Police alone could not fight drug trafficking. “Other agencies of the state as well as the Centre too have to chip in.” He said the drug recovery had increased by 560 per cent since 2017. “We have seized 170 kg of heroin in 2017. The seizure was 1,350 kg last year. This year, about 500 kg of narcotics has already been seized,” he added.

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