Chandigarh, Jun 26 (IANS): In the first of its kind state-wide drive, Punjab Police on Friday destroyed several quintals of illicit drugs at various places across all 24 districts, in a symbolic gesture to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The destruction of the drugs came amid Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's assertion that his government would not rest till every single drug smuggler or peddler is behind bars.

Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said teams of Punjab Police took over the task of destroying 62.140 kg of heroin, along with 326.52 quintals of poppy husk, 12.536 kg of charas, 490 grams of sulfa, 755.905 kg of smack, 1.970 kg of brown sugar and 148 kg of intoxicant powder.

In addition, 41.880 kg of opium was deposited in Government Opium and Alkaloid Factory, said Gupta, reiterated the department's commitment to eliminate drugs from Punjab, which has seen a marked increase in the number of drug users joining the state government's de-addiction programme since the imposition of curfew and lockdown in Punjab.

Around 1.3 lakh drug users have joined the de-addiction programme since March, indicating reduction in the availability of drugs in villages and towns, which had a total of 12 lakh harmful or dependent drug users in the state.

The efforts of Punjab Police, including the Special Task Force (STF), have led to manifold increase in heroin seizure in the state in less than four years - from 207 kg in 2016 to 410 kg in 2018, 464 kg in 2019 and 504 kg in 2020.

Cracking down heavily on the drug mafia and traders on the directives of the Chief Minister, Punjab Police have made a single largest ever record heroin seizure of 504 kgs in 2020, said the DGP, adding that major successes have been notched this year in recovery of drugs and arrests of top drug ring members, including Afghan nationals, this year.

This year has also seen the unravelling of some major international narco-terror networks with the arrest of some big fish, said the DGP.