Punjab Police report disrupted drug supply chain, prices surge amid ongoing anti-drug drive

Punjab Police on Saturday announced that its intelligence reports and informal surveys indicate a significant disruption in the drug supply chain across the State, resulting in a 50% increase in street-level heroin prices and a 40% rise in the prices of synthetic drugs.

Addressing a press conference on the ongoing three-month anti-drug campaign, Punjab’s Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav stated that the drive against drugs will continue, adding that fresh, exhaustive lists of drug peddlers and suppliers are being prepared with inputs from districts, intelligence units, and the anti-narcotics task force, to intensify action against traffickers over the next 60 days.

“Intelligence reports and informal surveys indicate a disruption in the drug supply chain, resulting in a 50% increase in street-level heroin prices and a 40% increase in street-level synthetic drug prices due to strict enforcement. Repeated, targeted, and effective cordon and search operations have forced notorious drug smugglers to abandon their homes and flee, disrupting local networks and diminishing their operational capacity,” he said at the press conference

The Congress party, however, took a dig at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), referencing Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s assertion on May 3, 2025, in Jalandhar that “Punjab will be made a drug-free state by May 31.”

Posing a question to the Chief Minster, in a post on ‘X’, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh said “...Today is May 31, 2025, the Deadline you set for defeating drugs in Punjab. Will you please tell us about the status of the ‘War on Drugs’? Please tell us, whether the ‘War’ has really been won? Or, there is a Ceasefire? If the ‘War’ has really been won, people of Punjab would like you to make the grand announcement yourself. They would like to hear it from the horse’s mouth before they start the celebrations. And if you make the victory announcement yourself, it should be followed by the ‘Victory Parade’.”

Meanwhile, the DGP added that the police are exploring the use of Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled anklets to track and monitor the activities of major drug smugglers released on bail. “We are examining the proposal from a legal standpoint to track and monitor the movements of bailed-out major smugglers through GPS anklets, with the approval of the competent court,” he said.

He further said that since March 1, 2025, Punjab Police have registered 8,344 first information reports and arrested 14,734 drug offenders, including 13,038 drug peddlers and 1,696 listed suppliers and distributors.

Published - June 01, 2025 02:24 am IST