Punjab DGP: 14,734 arrested, Rs 74 cr assets frozen

Chandigarh: Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav on Saturday said that the relentless enforcement drive will be continued against drugs, with fresh exhaustive lists of drug peddlers and suppliers being prepared with inputs from Districts, Intelligence and ANTF for action against drug traffickers in the next 60 days. “Another big focus area would be on persons released on bail, we have devised a system of monitoring their activities by taking village elders and village Panchayats into confidence,” said the DGP, terming that bail cancellation of repeat offenders would remain a primary focus.

Punjab Police is also exploring the use of GPS anklets to track and monitor activities of big drug smugglers released on bail, said the DGP, while stating, “We are examining the proposal from legal point of view to track the movement and monitor activities of bailed out big smugglers through GPS anklets with the approval of competent Court,” he said. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that with Punjab was the first in the country to devise a software— Punjab Artificial Intelligence System (PAIS)— in 2019, similarly, an AI-powered hierarchical database is being developed to map arrested persons under NDPS Act with backward and forward linkages to be traced upto two levels in each arrest. He said that after conducting trials of advanced anti-drone systems along the Indo-Pak border to combat drone-based smuggling of narcotics, arms, and explosives, the Punjab government has placed an order to deploy this advanced system. These systems are designed to detect, identify, and neutralise drones, aiming to disrupt cross-border smuggling network effectively, he said.