India News | Take Habitual Drug Offenders into Preventive Custody: BSF to Punjab Govt
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The BSF has recommended the Punjab government to take habitual offenders in drug smuggling cases in the border areas into preventive detention, a senior officer said on Monday.
Chandigarh, Dec 11 (PTI) The BSF has recommended the Punjab government to take habitual offenders in drug smuggling cases in the border areas into preventive detention, a senior officer said on Monday.
Talking to mediapersons, Special Director General of Border Security Force (BSF), Western Command, Yogesh Bahadur Khurania said the force has given a list of such offenders to the state government.
We have recommended the Punjab government to take habitual offenders in preventive detention, the officer said.
The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988, provides for preventive detention of repeat offenders.
Section 3 of the Act empowers a government to detain people to prevent them from engaging in illicit traffic of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
According to officials, drug smuggling from across the border through drones in the state's border districts is posing a serious challenge for security agencies.
Replying to a question, Khurania said the sharing of information among several government agencies has improved in the last two to three years.
He said a database of people involved in drug smuggling who came out on bail or parole has been prepared and all agencies are keeping a vigil on them.
Reacting to the expansion of the BSF's jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km, Khurania said it has yielded "very good results".
"Drones are moving 5 to 6 km inside (the Indian territory). Not only do we have to guard our fence, but also have to move into the hinterland. We have got very good results. We are getting very good support from the Punjab Police. It is a matter of the country's interests. We are getting support from everyone,” he said.
The senior officer asserted that the BSF is not an investigating agency and its actions are limited to arrest and seizure.
"We can conduct search and seizure under some provisions of the law. Whatever action we take is limited to arrest and seizure and then we hand over it (case) to the law enforcement agency. We have not seen any conflict of interest. We are getting full cooperation from everyone," he said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)