Racket involved in supplying drugs to students busted
In a breakthrough, Rawalpindi Cantonment police arrested four members of a racket allegedly involved in supplying drugs to students in schools and colleges in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Police said that a constable of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police and a lawyer were among the four alleged drug peddlers taken into custody. The K-P police official used police uniform for smuggling the drugs with the other suppliers.
The police also tracked down other members of the racket involved in supplying drugs to educational institutions.
Sources said that the police used advanced technology to track down the gang after two months of hard work. Police sources said that Mudassir Afridi, Shahab Shah, Junaid and Yaqub are among the arrested accused.
According to the police, Mudassir Afridi worked as a constable in K-P police, who misused his uniform and authority to smuggle the drugs from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the police, Shahab Shah is a lawyer from whom the membership card of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has been recovered.
The police recovered more than 4 kilograms of hashish from the accused. During the investigation, the accused revealed that they supplied drugs to dozens of schools and colleges in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Accused Shahab and Mudassir used to bring hashish from -P and further supplied it to the educational institutions with the help of Junaid and Yaqub.
The police recovered 2.4 kg of hashish from Shahab Shah and 1.7 kg from Mudassir Afridi and registered cases against the accused.
Police sources said that during the preliminary investigation, the accused also divulged names of other accused who supply drugs to educational institutions. The identified accused would be arrested soon, police sources said adding that a record was also being compiled of the students who bought drugs from the suppliers.
SP Pothohar Muhammad Waqas Khan said that the police tracked down the drug suppliers with the help of human intelligence and modern technology. He said that the racket was supplying drugs to educational institutions in an organised way.
He said that the accused hid from the law for a long time due to the backing of the K-P police official and the lawyer. He further said that the crackdown on drug dealers will continue to eliminate the scourge of drugs in educational institutions.
The police officer said that letters will also be written to the federal police and administrations to further alert specific educational institutions in the twin cities so that all efforts can be made to keep students away from the menace of drugs.
He said that citizens can identify the accused involved in any such crime. The information of the citizens providing information to the police will be kept confidential and the police will take strong action against such elements.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Rawalpindi police said that they have collected vital evidence against all members of the gang.
He said that the FIA can also be consulted to glean information about the bank transactions of the arrested accused.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2023.