Charsadda police book 1,332 drug peddlers in 6 months

CHARSADDA: The police have registered over 1,332 cases against the alleged drug peddlers during the last six months in the district.

The rise in the drug trade and its use can be gauged from the police actions against the narcotics pushers, drug addicts and the increase in the rehabilitation centres during the past year in the district.

When contacted, District Police Officer Asif Bahadur said that they were taking stern actions against the drug dealers and the addicts to curb the narcotics business and addiction.However, he said that the general public should play a proactive role to extend cooperation to the police to pinpoint the drug pushers and the users.

An alarming increase in the number of ice or methamphetamine addicts and prisoners in Charsadda’s sub-jail, who had been arrested for dealing in narcotics has been witnessed. According to the recent police report, over 1,332 cases had been registered against the ice and other drug pushers in the 13 police stations.

The police said that they had arrested 1,400 alleged drug dealers and recovered 632-kilogram hashish, 107kg Ice, 43kg opium, 13kg heroin, 68 bottles of liquor from their possession.Also, 350 out of the 385 prisoners in the sub-jail Charsadda, are ice or other narcotics dealers while the rest are accused were arrested for other crimes.

Similarly, the number of registered rehabilitation centres increased to eight from four during the last year while a mushroom growth can also be seen in the unregistered private rehabilitation hospitals in the district.

District Social Welfare Officer Shoaib Khan told The News that over 1,200 drugs addicts, most of them ice users, were under treatment in these eight centres.He said that on the directives of the government, the Social Welfare Department had also established a rehabilitation hospital in Charsadda where free treatment facilities were being provided to the addicts.