The city police claimed on Friday to have arrested over 400 drug peddlers from the surroundings of educational institutes during its ongoing operation against anti-social elements. Speaking to the media on Friday, Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police Operations Ashfaq Khan said all the divisional superintendents of police have also been directed to speed up the operation against the narcotics sellers around the educational institutions.

Out of the total, the DIG said that 90 FIRs have been registered in City Division, 84 in Cantt Division, 31 in Civil Lines Division, 104 in Sadar Division, 40 in Iqbal Town Division and 52 in Model Town Division during their crackdown. "Besides this, the police have also seized over 117 kilograms of hashish, 572 grams of heroin, 62.5 grams of ice-crystal, 580 grams of opium, 1,240 intoxicating capsules, over nine kilograms of bhang and 2,916 liters of liquor from the arrested suspects," added the senior officer.

He also warned that no negligence will be tolerated as he was personally monitoring the actions taken against the drug peddlers, adding that "youngsters are the future of Pakistan and they will not allow anyone to destroy it". To eliminate this menace, the Lahore police personnel are in touch with the Punjab Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and conducting joint raids on daily basis.

The DIG continued that the Lahore police are also organising anti-drugs awareness campaigns and delivering lectures among the students of different educational institutes. "The basic purpose of delivering lectures is to sensitize the students, teachers and the educational management about their basic responsibilities. We will deal with such anti-social elements with iron handed and the citizens should also cooperate with the police department in this regard, he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019