Police launch operation against ice dealers in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The police have launched a major operation against the drug dealers in the provincial capital and arrested 42 accused on a single day, officials said on Sunday. The campaign has been launched after complaints regarding unprecedented increase in the number of drug addicts, consuming ice and heroin.

“A special campaign has been launched and all the superintendent of police, their deputies and the station house officers have been tasked to go after the dealers, traffickers and manufacturers,” Capital City Police Officer Qasim Ali Khan told The News.

An official said 38 cases were lodged on the first day after 42 dealers were arrested during the operation which is being supervised by senior superintendent of police operations Masood Ahmad Bangash.

“Over 31 kg of ice, 27 kg of hashish and 3 kg of heroin have been recovered during the campaign in one day,” the official said.The official said all the SPs, DSPs and SHOs have been directed to compile lists of the manufacturers and dealers of ice and heroin in their areas before laying a proper hand on them.

Many stressed that the officers should ensure that cops lay hands on dealers and traffickers instead of rounding up mere addicts only to show an increased number of arrests to the bosses.

Ice along with heroin and various other kinds of drugs is posing a serious threat to the society since an increase in the use of the synthetic drug all over in the last one decade. The addicts of ice are more violent and many of them are involved in street crimes, murders and attempted murders. They remain in a state of mind where they can shoot anyone with a little or even without any provocation.

Officials said that the number of addicts and their involvement in violent crimes had witnessed an increase every year since 2018.“There were continuous actions against the mafias involved but the number of people consuming drugs is still on the rise, not only in KP but all the major cities of the country,” said an official.

While going through the investigation of a number of cases, it was found that the increasing number of ice users is behind most of the cases of snatching, robberies, theft and violence during street crimes.

An official said police had written to the government on several occasions in the past that strict laws need to be introduced so those arrested by the police get due punishments.The officials also suggested developing a system for keeping a check on the transportation of raw material being used in the manufacturing of ice. This synthetic drug can be manufactured anywhere from some raw material used in the manufacturing of medicines.