NET recovers 911kg of narcotics in 14 months

PESHAWAR: The Narcotics Eradication Team (NET) has recovered 236 kilograms of ice (methamphetamine) and 675kg heroin during operations against the drug mafia in the last 14 months only within the limits of the Capital City Police.

Recoveries were made while at least 14 drug factories were busted by the team along with local police in operations in Peshawar and Khyber, an official said.

The NETs were launched in July 2021 for operations against the drug mafia after complaints of an unprecedented increase in the use, trafficking and sale of narcotics, particularly ice or meth. The teams were set up to go after the drug mafia in districts and submit reports on a daily basis.

“Till the first week of September, the NET has recovered 236kg of ice and 675 kg of heroin along with 812 kg hashish and 6902 ecstasy pills. Some major operations were carried out during which 508 drug dealers were held and 403 cases were lodged against them in the capital city police area,” Wajid Shah, an officer of NET, who along with Inspector Ibad Wazir, led operations against top drug dealers, told The News.

In recent months, an official said, drug dealers were held in Khyber and Peshawar and ice and heroin were recovered by busting manufacturing units.

The crackdown has been accelerated over the last few years after everyone was concerned about the reports of an increase in sales and smuggling of narcotics across the country. Along with the newly set up NETs, the local police are also conducting operations against the drug mafia as well as the peddlers involved in sales and smuggling at the local level.

Different police stations in Peshawar arrested 1,277 dealers and peddlers and recovered 253 kilograms of ice, 250kg heroin, 2309kg hashish, 683kg opium and over 10,106 ecstasy pills in actions during the last eight months.

There were reports that the drug mafia has targeted the youth and students by making ice and other drugs easily available in the vicinity of colleges, universities and hostels. The district administration has recently started rehabilitation of the drug addicts that are found on the roads.

However, the number of those consuming drugs in homes and private places is in the thousands and they could be protected only by cutting the supply route of all kinds of narcotics.