Over 90kg of charas seized; three held

Contraband was recovered from a car at roadblock

Police arrested three alleged drug dealers and recovered over 98 kilograms of charas from their possession. According to police report, the SHO of Thikriwala Police Station, Rana Asim, got information that accused Sher Abbas, a resident of Chiniot, was going to deliver drugs.

Acting on the basis of the information, the SHO, along with ASIs Mubashir, Muzaffar Hussain, Tanveer Hussain and Abrar Ahmed, intercepted a car during a roadblock near Darbar Pir Moti Sayen, Chak No. 66 GB, Lunda Bridge Bypass. When the car was searched, 82 packets of charas weighing over 98 kilograms were allegedly recovered from the car. Police arrested Sher Abbas, a resident of 204 GB Chiniot, Farooq, a resident of Baghbanpura Street No. 3, and Rizwan, a resident of Jhang, and seized the drugs.

The suspects allegedly revealed during interrogation that they were going to different districts to supply the drugs. Police registered a case against the accused under the provisions of 9C-CNSA and started investigation for further recovery. In February this year, the City Police Officer, Ghulam Mubashir Mekan, told a press conference at the police line in Dijkot that police had intensified crackdown on drug peddlers allegedly supplying drugs to university, college and school students.

He told the press conference that "18 kilograms of hashish, four kilograms of Ice, three kilograms of heroin and 200 bottles of liquor have been seized from the possession of 14 drug dealers in educational institutions which are destroying the young generation". The arrested accused included three brothers and the alleged main Ice dealers. Police had presented them before the court after registering cases against them under 9C CNS Act, 1997.

The official had said that a search operation would be conducted at the hostels after a meeting with the heads of educational institutions. Accompanied by the CPO, SSP (Operation) Abdullah Luck, the SP of Lyallpur Town and Daniyal Ahmad Javed, he said that the police had deployed its personnel in plainclothes at the universities to identify the people who had been supplying drugs to the students. After receiving information from them, a police team arrested over a dozen accused, including three brothers, who had been allegedly selling drugs and Ice at the educational institutions.

The three brothers were identified as Hashim, Khurram Shehzad and Qasim Shehzad. Eighteen kilograms of hashish, four kilograms of Ice, three kilograms of heroin and 200 bottles of liquor were allegedly recovered from their possessions. He said that they had a lot of information about the hostels in the educational institutions.

After a search operation was conducted in the hostels, the universities' employees and the people posted in the cafeterias would be closely monitored. The alleged dealers who had been arrested allegedly used a social media platform to communicate with their “employees”. Earlier in October last year, the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP), Rao Sardar Ali Khan, had said that cooperation of police, ANF and other law enforcement agencies was needed to eradicate the menace of drugs from society.

“Therefore, field commanders, along with ANF, should intensify intelligence-based operations against criminals implicated in smuggling. In this regard, smugglers and dealers should be detained.” The IGP had issued the directions while presiding over a meeting with the Punjab ANF at the Central Police Office. The IGP had issued directives to ensure provision of any kind of support to ANF teams for taking action against drug smugglers.