Jammu, Mar 14: Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police (DGP) R R Swain Thursday said that narco-trade is emerging as a major challenge and police and other security forces who need to “dig the tunnel from both ends” to deal with it effectively.
“Drug trade is emerging as a major challenge in J&K. It has to be addressed in a proper manner. For that, we need to dig the tunnel from both ends,” the DGP said after inaugurating the Drug De-Addiction and Mental Rehabilitation Centre at Channi-Himat Jammu.
“Till recent past, there was only challenge of homegrown Charas and involvement was limited. But now the involvement is more as Heroine and Brown Sugar is pushed into this side in a large quantity. This was the case with Punjab and now it is growing here as well. But we will not allow J&K to become Punjab,” he said. “This not a challenge in Karnataka and Telengana as these states aren’t close to borders.”
He said that there are 10 drug de-addiction centres of Police operating at present and some private players also involved in it. “These centers are less compared to the number of addicts,” he said. The DGP said that police will assess where it stands at present and where it would stand in 2025. The DGP advocated a strategy where a coordination needs to be maintained with Punjab as well.
