Kangra police for preventive detention of offenders

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 6

Taking its drive against narcotics a step further, the district police have proposed preventive detention of habitual offenders under the NDPS Act.

Kangra SP Sanjeev Gandhi said in many cases it was found that some accused arrested under the NDPS Act had restarted smuggling after being released on bail. One such accused, Ajay Kumar from the Jawali area of Kangra district, was arrested for selling psychotropic drugs. He came out on bail and once again started selling psychotropic drugs. Today, the police arrested him with 720 capsules of spasmo proxyvan and 120 tablets of alpraste.

The SP said there were eight habitual offenders who sold psychotropic drugs or narcotic substances in Kangra district. There were multiple cases under the NDPS Act against these offenders. Since they were not amending their behaviour the police were proposing to keep them under preventive detention. There were provisions under the NDPS Act for doing so, Gandhi said.

The Kangra police have to date registered over 210 cases under the NDPS Act and arrested more than 250 accused. The campaign has also received support from women. In the recent past, a group of women comprising panchayat members came to the SP and thanked him for the campaign.

Investigations have revealed that big money was luring youths into smuggling. Sources said proxyvon capsules, a sedative drug with addictive side-effects, were purchased in bulk by the peddlers at prices ranging from Rs 2 per capsule. However, in Dharamsala and McLeodganj, it was being sold to the addicts at prices ranging from Rs 20 to Rs 25 per capsule. Those involved in the trade are earning between Rs 1 and Rs 2 lakh on a single expedition.

The police have also written to the Income Tax Department seeking details of properties and known sources of income of the arrested narcotic smugglers. The SP said some arrested narcotic smugglers were found to be having assets worth crores without having any known source of income. A drug smuggler from Badroha had Rs 70 lakh in cash in his bank account and property worth Rs 10 crore. “We have written to the department in this regard,” he said.