SHIMLA – The spurt in smuggling of synthetic drugs into its territory from neighbouring states, especially Punjab, has sent alarm bells ringing among the Himachal Pradesh police.
To check smuggling of smack, heroin, cocaine and brown sugar into the state, the police plan to set up specialised units apart from putting in place sophisticated gadgets and deploying special narcotics dog squads at border checkposts.
The state police would raise these demands at the annual coordination meeting of various drug law enforcing agencies of North India at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) office in New Delhi on January 16. “We will be seeking more funds from the NCB so that a multi-pronged strategy can be adopted to prevent smuggling of drugs,” said Director General of Police Sanjay Kumar. “We are keen on having portable X-ray scanners that can check apple-laden trucks,” said the DGP.
The state has already prepared a three-year action plan and sent it to the NCB for special financial assistance on the lines of Punjab to fight the drug menace.
What’s worrying for the state police is that cases and arrests under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act have shown a steep increase. The state police registered 644 cases and made 755 arrests under the NDPS Act in 2014. “It’s the highest so far in a single year,” said officials. “There wasn’t a single seizure of smack and heroin till 2008. But since then, there has been a sharp increase in such cases,” they said. It clearly indicates that the problem is not just illegal cultivation, but also youth getting hooked onto synthetic drugs.
Deaths of some youth in Shimla, Una and Kullu due to reported drug overdose has prompted the NGOs to demand concrete measures to save the younger generation from falling prey to drugs. Parts of Kullu, Manali, Mandi and Chamba have been notorious for being drug havens with vast tracts under cannabis and poppy cultivation. However, it’s the synthetic drug spill over from Punjab that is posing a new challenge for the state police.
