New Delhi: After massive raids on gangsters, their henchmen and organised crime, Delhi Police has turned its focus to petty criminals and narco-offenders. Launching the 10th round of Operation Kavach on Sunday, teams of crime branch, special cell and personnel from over 200 police stations conducted simultaneous raids at nearly 2,000 locations in the city in 24 hours. At least 6,321 people were taken into preventive custody while 20,854 were briefly detained under Delhi Police Act. Police registered 269 cases under Delhi Excise Act and arrested as many people. The operation was coordinated by the crime branch, which usually generate inputs that the local police acts on. Police also prosecuted 4,274 violators under COTPA Act rules dealing with selling tobacco and related products near schools and other educational institutions. Over 1.22 lakh cigarettes were seized and two persons were arrested, busting a racket that supplied illegal cigarette packets without statutory pictorial health warnings.“It was decided to target both street-level peddlers and high-level traffickers/smugglers and to have both top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top approaches to effectively counter drug trafficking by unearthing their linkages,” special CP (crime) Devesh Srivastava said. Police commissioner Satish Golcha earlier instructed Srivastava and special CP (law and order) Ravindra Yadav to crack down on the visible sources in drugs supply chains. Joint commissioner Surendra Kumar, DCP Sanjeev Yadav and others were tasked to plan out the raids as part of central govt’s nationwide campaign against drugs. Many small- and mid-level drug traffickers have gone underground due to the strict police action, sources claimed.During the raids, 120 narco-offenders were held and a substantial quantity of drugs, including 158.9 grams of heroin, 40.276kg ganja and 108 grams of cocaine, were seized. Police also found Rs 21.08 lakh. A significant quantity of liquor was seized, including 115 beer bottles, 278 beer cans, 337 liquor bottles and 33,310 quarters of illicit liquor.In total, 117 people were arrested in 115 Arms Act cases, with the seizure of two pistols, 16 countrymade pistols/desi-kattas, 23 live cartridges and 95 knives. A crackdown on gambling led to the arrests of 358 people and the seizure of Rs 3.4 lakh. Police also took preventive action, arresting 717 people under Section 126/170 BNSS to prevent the commission of crime. Operation Kavach was started in May 2023 to focus on identifying and apprehending people involved in the trafficking and distribution of narcotics. The initiative is primarily focused on stringent action on the supply side, but the cops have also started an awareness drive to reduce demand by sensitising the youth about the consequences of drug addiction.
