Anti Drugs drive and Success by AAP Govt in Punjab

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Last updated: 10 April 2025

Highest Conviction rate of 86% in NDPS cases under AAP[1]
-- 82.5% in 2024[2] and 81% Conviction rate in 2023[3]
-- Meagre 58% under Congress, 59% in 2018[1:1]
-- Only 40% during Akali-BJP government[1:2]

Huge uptick in Police Success

-- 220+% jump in Heroin recoveries in 2023 as compared 2021 (details further down the page)[3:1]
-- 2247 Villages declared Drug-Free in Punjab in 2023[4]

Strong Policing: Mar 2022 - Jan 2025[2:1]

-- Arrested: 43,000 (5856+ big fish)
-- Drugs seized: Heroin: 3,000 kg, Opium: 2,600 Kg, Tablets/injections/vials: 4.3 crore, Drug money: Rs 30.83+ crore
-- FIRs: 31,500 (3581+ commercial quantities)

Strict action against police officers, politicians involved
-- SAD senior politician Majithia booked[5]
-- Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira arrested[6]
-- AIG Police Raj Jit Singh dismissed & named in FIR[7]
-- DSP Lakhvir Singh arrested for allegedly accepting Rs 10 lakh[8]
-- SI booked for supporting drug mafia[9]

1. Strong Policing: Zero tolerance approach

Year Arrested FIRs
2024[10] 8,935 (210 Big fish) 12,255 (1,213 Commercial quantity)
2023[11] 14,951 (2424 Big fish) 10786 (1385 Commercial quantity)

Yudh Nashian Virudh: Final push to eradication drugs[12]

3,279 cases and arrest of 5,537 individuals under the NDPS Act in past 41 days since 1 March 2025

Demolished illegal properties of 57 drug smugglers to teach them a befitting lesson

  • 212 kg of heroin, 6,945 kg of poppy husk, 105 kg of opium, 50 kg of ganja, 6 kg of charas, and nearly 9 lakh banned tablets and capsules
  • Drug money worth approximately Rs 6 crore has been recovered

IMPACT: Herion Recovery over the years

Year Herion Seized[3:2]
2024 1099 Kg[10:1]
2023 1346 kg
2022 594kg
2021 571kg
2020 760kg
2019 460kg
2018 424kg
2017 179kg

2. Special New Anti-DRUGS Initiatives

3. Arresting POs/Absconders[13]

2378 Proclaimed offenders/absconders in Drugs cases arrested since 16 March 2022 to Sept 2024

Year POs Arrested
2024[10:2] 843
2023[11:1] 673
  • Special teams to arrest Drug case POs absconding
  • Categorise the POs under three categories

4. Intelligence Gathering: Mission Nishchay[14]

Strong Intelligence Gathering[15]: Police has prepared a list of
-- 9,000 drug peddlers
-- 750 drug hotspots

Regular Raids & tracking started to keep a check

  • Launched Special operation in border villages to gather intelligence about demand and supply of drugs
  • The initiative aims to gather actionable intelligence and engage local communities
  • It targets areas with close proximity to the border and a history of drug trafficking incidences
  • Police officers will fan out in villages in Fazilka district and interact with residents

5. Strengthing of Police & Jails

6. Long term solution

Identifying unemployment & unengaged youth as one of the reasons why youth get attracted to drugs

Challenges

  • The drug menace in Punjab is believed to have started in early 1980s
  • Neither 15 years each of NDA rule, nor 15 years of Congress rule could tackle this problem
  • Deeply rooted drug problem : about 2/3rd families have at least one addict[16]
  • 47% of jail inmates drug addicts : many criminals part of drug racket[17]
  • Police officers[9:1][7:1][8:1], army-personnel[18], politicians[5:1] involved in drug racket
  • Pakistan Smugglers use sophisticated techniques like delivery by drones to send drugs across border[19]

References:

  1. https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Mar/11/11-days-since-start-of-anti-drug-campaign-punjab-police-register-1072-firs-under-ndps-act ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. https://yespunjab.com/cm-mann-seeks-amit-shahs-intervention-for-setting-up-special-ndps-courts-to-check-drug-menace/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=186225 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. https://www.youtube.com/live/Uux43TU8-Pg?si=HUkttiwAIRZAbzaJ&t=205 (Punjab Police 2023 End PC) ↩︎

  5. https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/punjab-sit-probing-drug-case-involving-sad-leader-bikram-majithia-reconstituted-1220844.html ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/congress-leader-sukhpal-khaira-remanded-in-two-day-police-custody-552114 ↩︎

  7. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/punjab-police-drug-mafia-nexus-dismissed-senior-official-faces-probe-for-amassing-wealth-through-narcotics-sale-assets-seized-drugmafia-punjabpolice-narcotics-vigilancebureau-101681729035045.html ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. https://theprint.in/india/punjab-police-dsp-held-for-accepting-rs-10-lakh-bribe-from-drugs-supplier/1028036/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  9. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/cop-booked-for-setting-drug-peddler-free-accepting-rs-70000-bribe-in-ludhiana-8526444/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  10. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/punjab-police-high-profile-crimes-solved-terrorists-arrested-2024-9754223/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  11. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=176620 ↩︎ ↩︎

  12. https://yespunjab.com/arrest-in-amritsar-raises-concern-about-involvement-of-enforcement-officers-from-other-states-harpal-cheema/ ↩︎

  13. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/nearly-40-000-drug-smugglers-held-in-past-2-5-years-punjab-police-101726511792404.html ↩︎

  14. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/police-launch-mission-nishchay-fazilka-to-gather-intelligence-about-drugs-9391832/ ↩︎

  15. https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2024/06/18/des23-pb-drugs-police-2ndld-mann.html ↩︎

  16. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38824478 ↩︎

  17. https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/47-of-inmates-in-25-jails-of-punjab-are-addicted-to-drugs-reveals-screening-576647.html ↩︎

  18. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/army-personnel-aide-held-in-punjab-with-31-kg-heroin-smuggled-in-from-pakistan-8367406/ ↩︎

  19. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/drugs-pushed-by-pak-using-drone-5-kg-heroin-seized-punjab-cops-3734169 ↩︎

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