The police have made sizeable gains in wiping out organised drug cultivation and its consumption in Mandi district. Data procured from the Police Department reveals that within a month, the police have destroyed 1.27 lakh poppy plants, seized 2.44 kg charas and 174.34 gram heroin in the district.
Despite strict police vigil, offenders are involved in organised drug trafficking in the district. They are engaged in production and sale of opium and charas clandestinely for the past many years. It has become a major challenge for the police to nab such offenders to end drug menace in the district.
Mandi SP Soumya Sambasivan said that from April 1 to May 1, the police arrested 29 persons under the NDPS Act, who were engaged in drug trade in the district. During this period, 26 cases had been registered under the NDPS Act. Out of these, 10 cases were of charas possession, 12 for carrying heroin and 4 of illegal cultivation of poppy plants.
“On getting an information about organised cultivation of poppy plants in apple orchards under Karsog subdivision, the police conducted a raid and detected 1.6 lakh poppy plants cultivated in almost seven bigha land in an organised way. The police raided the area and destroyed all the poppy plants and booked the accused under the NDPS Act,” the SP said.
The SP stated that drug menace had become a major issue not only in Mandi district but in other parts of the state. It was directly impacting the young generation because youth fell easy targets of the drug offenders.
“Our mission is to eradicate organised drug production and its consumption in the district to save the youth from drug abuse. It came to our notice that drug offenders are cultivating cannabis and poppy plants in remote areas of the district to hoodwink the police. But police are aware of the tactics of drug offenders and we are ready to deal with such offenders strictly,” the SP said. “The drug offenders arere advised to shun this practice or get ready to face law,” the SP added.
