New Delhi: Drugs worth Rs 1,805 crore were seized by security forces along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab in 2014, officials said.
The Border Security Force (BSF) had seized more than 361 kg of heroin with a street value of Rs 1,805 crore, trafficked from Pakistan to Punjab last year, BSF Punjab Frontier Inspector General Anil Paliwal told PTI. The official noted that there has been an increase in seizure of trafficked drugs from across the border since 2013.
On an average, 1 kilogramme of heroin was seized per day by the forces along the border with Pakistan in 2014, whereas the figure was 900 grams per day in 2013, Paliwal said.
"It can not be confirmed whether the quantity of drugs trafficked into the state has gone up but the security forces along the borders are working diligently in curbing the menace. That is why we were able to seize 40 kilogrammes of heroin more in 2014 as compared to 2013," he said. The border force had killed 7 Pakistani intruders and 4 traffickers in 2014 in an encounter while the figure was 2 and 5 respectively in 2013, BSF reports said.
16 traffickers from India were arrested from the border while three others were killed by BSF jawans last year, it said. The forces also seized fake Indian currency with face value of Rs 11,83,000 the previous year while the figure was Rs 52,4,000 in 2013.
A Bangladeshi, Nepali and 31 Pakistani nationals were arrested by BSF in 2014 while crossing the borders into Punjab including 31 Indians, the reports said.
