Punjab Police Registers Over 95,000 NDPS Cases Since 2022, Freezes Drug Traffickers’ Assets Worth ₹902 Crore

Punjab Police has registered more than 95,000 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act since March 16, 2022, leading to over 1.27 lakh arrests and the recovery of more than 7,260 kg of heroin, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Wednesday.

Yadav said the police had frozen properties worth ₹902 crore belonging to drug traffickers, which he described as the highest forfeiture in the country. He also claimed that the force had secured a conviction rate of 90 per cent in drug-related cases.

The DGP shared the figures on the sidelines of a Police Commemoration Day ceremony at the Punjab Armed Police Headquarters in Jalandhar, where personnel who died in the line of duty were honoured.

Punjab Police Steps Up Anti-Drug, Anti-Gangster Operations

Yadav said sustained anti-gangster operations launched in April 2022 had led to the dismantling of 1,288 organised criminal modules and the arrest of more than 3,300 gang members.

Outlining the next phase of the ongoing Yudh Nashian Virudh campaign, the DGP said it had transitioned into an intensive, 60-day mission-mode operation. Under the initiative, designated drug hotspots are being monitored round the clock by senior police officers alongside gazetted officers from the civil administration.

He said future strategies would focus on dismantling the financial networks of drug traffickers, targeting vulnerable locations, modernising police infrastructure and strengthening cybersecurity capabilities to curb criminal syndicates.

Yadav also highlighted an investment of more than ₹1,600 crore in infrastructure modernisation.

The DGP said Punjab Police had raised concerns with the directors general of police of other states over the supply of pharmaceutical drugs into Punjab from outside the state. He said coordinated efforts were needed to curb the unauthorised supply of banned drugs.

Punjab Police Pays Tribute To Personnel Killed In Line Of Duty

Yadav led the commemorative ceremony and laid a floral wreath at the Police Martyrs’ Memorial. Special DGP Praveen Kumar Sinha and ADGP M F Farooqui were also present.

National Police Commemoration Day is observed annually to honour 10 Central Reserve Police Force personnel killed in an ambush by Chinese troops on October 21, 1959, in the Hot Springs area of Ladakh.

Describing Punjab Police as a force that had served the country during war, peacetime and proxy conflicts, Yadav said 1,804 Punjab Police personnel had sacrificed their lives in the line of duty since September 1981.