Addicts vow to quit drugs, cops let them go

Addicts vow to quit drugs, cops let them go
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 28
The police nabbed as many as 15 residents of this district at bus stand here today. They were in possession of various packets of poppy husk and were commuting by a PRTC bus plying on Sangria-Bathinda route. However, after being assured of the drugs being carried for self-consumption, the police took them to a Gurdwara and let them off only after they swore in the name of God that they will give up the habit. No criminal case was registered against them.

As per the details available, the Bathinda police today received a tip-off that 15 passengers on a PRTC bus coming from Sangria (Rajasthan) were drug addicts and had bought packets of poppy husk from some vends in Rajasthan.
When the bus reached the bus stand here, the policemen gheraoed it and frisked all passengers. It was found that all passengers were carrying poppy husk. Some of them had put the packets in hand bags while some had obscured it in turban, pyjamas and socks.
Immediately after the recovery, the cops took the accused to the Kotwali police station, where legal formalities were completed. Meanwhile, the accused pleaded to the station house officer (SHO) that the seized poppy husk was for their self consumption and not for any illicit trade.
The SHO reportedly contacted his seniors and agreed to release them only on the condition that they take an oath in a Gurdwara to give up the habit.
The accused agreed to the offer and were taken to Gurdwara Qila Mubarik Sahib, where after taking an oath they all were released. No criminal case was registered against them.
Confirming the facts, Jaswinder Kaur, in-charge of the bus stand police post, said, “Each of them had the poppy husk packets and the weight of the packets varied from 400 grams to 1.5 kg.”
Drug trafficking thriving in Punjab
The sale of poppy husk from vends established in neighbouring Rajasthan has been a headache for the Punjab Police for a long time now.
Despite the tall claims made by senior police officers, many gangs indulging in drug trafficking have mushroomed throughout the state.
Being adjacent to Haryana and Rajasthan, Bathinda, Muktsar, Ferozepur and Mansa districts of Punjab are the worst hit.
There are reports that a large number of children and women are also employed to smuggle poppy husk into the state.