ANF continues crackdown on recreational drugs

Spokesperson says teams caught 18 drug peddlers red-handed in one month

LAHORE: To counter the trend of consuming recreational drugs among the youth, the Anti-Narcotics Force Punjab is continuing its operations outside educational institutions across the province.

The teams arrested at least 18 drugs sellers in a month from outside educational institutions of Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad, and Lahore.

A few months ago, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took a suo motu notice on an application and sought reports from the police and the ANF on the use of drugs in private and government educational institutions.

Social activist Abdullah Malik, submitted an application before the chief justice during the hearing of a human rights cases at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court.

Malik said the Punjab government had committed criminal negligence by not launching a crackdown on drug peddlers. He said the future of the hundreds of youths would be destroyed if the students were not rescued from the menace of drugs.

According to the ANF spokesperson, the teams conducted raids based on tips and arrested suspects in different districts of the province. "Since drugs are available easily, young people are becoming addicted," he said. He added that a comprehensive strategy has been devised by ANF to arrest drugs sellers who are destroying the future of students.

He said that during raids, ANF teams caught several drug sellers red-handed outside educational institutions. The official said a large amount of drugs were seized from their possession. In a month, more than 700 grams of hashish, 960 grams of ice amphetamine and three kg of opium have been seized from the accused. The arrested suspects were identified as Mohammad Ramazan, Munawar Hussain, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Anwar, Mohammad Hayat, Nazar Hussain, Athar Hussain, Sultan Khan, Owais Ali, Sadiq Ullah Khan, Samiullah and Muhammad Arshad.



The ANF is also conducting awareness drives at schools and colleges to educate students about the harmful effects of drug use. Moreover, at the regional level, events are being organised in collaboration with NGOs. "We have set up teams in various localities who guide youths not to use drugs," the spokesman said.

In 2018, the ANF arrested 57 drug peddlers during a crackdown and seized 29.34 kilogrammes of different types of drugs. Around 18 suspects were held in Lahore, 24 in Multan, seven in Sialkot and eight in Faisalabad.

Also, 75 awareness lectures, 23 seminars, and 180 other awareness programmes were organised by the ANF Punjab in 2018.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2019.