Spurt in narcotics smuggling at Sriganganagar shows Pakistan now eyeing Rajasthan border | Jaipur News
The intelligence and police authorities have not ruled out this possibility stating that they drop narcotics starting from Punjab, Rajasthan and Kutch in Gujarat and continuous seizures of drug hauls is the only way out to demoralise them. The district police too have launched a crackdown on suspicious activities in the border villages.
This year so far, Sriganganagar police has seized 10 drug hauls from various areas in the district and at least 35 persons have been arrested. Majority of those arrested are from Punjab.
According to Sriganganagar police, in the past six months over six consign-ments have been seized at the border and other areas of Sriganganagar.
“The past incidents since June this year have suggested that smugglers from Pakistan and their counter-parts in Punjab keep changing their bases. When they found strict vigil in Punjab ruining their criminal activities they shifted to Rajasthan and when we also began seizing drugs, they furthermoved to Gujarat. The only way to demoralise them is to have continuous crackdowns,” said Anand Sharma, superintendent of police, Sriganganagar.
He added that in 2020 and2021 similar attempts were made in Jaisalmer and Barmer. “Whenever Punjab intensifies vigil the Pakistani smugglers shift their base to Rajasthan and make attempts to dump narcotics here,” Sharma added.
Sharma added that in the meetings with the authorities of intelligence wing, BSF and others it is always emphasised to educate the villagers to be aware of any suspicious activities on the border. “I have specifically asked my border police stations to be vigilant as these activities have recently increased. They should regularly visit border villages and hold meetings to take villagers into confidence. Only continuous crackdown can check the narcotics smuggling,” he added.
Senior police officers stated that in all the previous cases it was found that the narcotics haul was concealed near Sriganganagar border on the behest of smugglers from Punjab. “Smugglers of Punjab are eyeing border districts like Sriganganagar and Jaisalmer,” said a senior officer.
