Srinagar: With the law and order situation in Kashmir considerably improving after 2019, Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP), stepping up efforts against drug trafficking and narco-terrorism, arrested 565 drug dealers in the past over three years.
The J&K Police have been able to arrest hundreds of drug traffickers by using both technology and human intelligence.
In the past three years, the police have filed 335 cases against drug dealers, and 565 people, involved in the illicit drug trade, have been imprisoned.
In 2020, 159 people who were involved in the drug trade were arrested, and 92 cases were filed against drug dealers.
In 2021, 74 cases were filed and 120 people were arrested; in 2022, 169 drug peddling cases were filed and 286 drug traffickers were imprisoned, more than double the number of cases filed in 2021, according to information provided by the J&K Police in an RTI response to M Shuja.
Further, the Police recovered 20.4 grams of brown sugar, 3.7 kilograms of heroin, 19.6 kilograms of charas, 8526 psychotropic (psy) syrup bottles, 31631 psy caps/tablets, 1.87 kilograms of poppy or bhang or straw cannabis etc in 2020.
In 2021, 91.4 grams of brown sugar, 442 grams of heroin, 13.16 kilograms of charas, 69 kilograms of bhuki (poppy husk), 357 psy syrup bottles, 11078 psy caps or tablets, 42.8 kilograms of poppy or bhang or straw cannabis were recovered by police.
Similarly in 2022, 97.3 grams of brown sugar, 414 grams of heroin, 14.1 kilograms of charas, 5774 psy syrup bottles, 99382 psy caps or tablets, 77.34 kilograms of poppy or bhang or straw cannabis etc.
Police further disclosed that 182 cases were registered under NDPS in three years and 336 persons were arrested in these cases.
NDPS Act prohibits people from production, manufacturing, cultivation, possession, sale, purchasing, transport, storage, and consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
“Drug traffickers will be dealt with harshly, and no one will be spared. According to the NDPS Act, we will begin attaching the property of drug traffickers,” a senior police officer said.
According to the National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India conducted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment through the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi, there are approximately 10 lakh drug addicts in Jammu and Kashmir.