Daily Times

Khushab police have successfully rooted out narco-gangs and arms sellers at piyari mines in a well planned and remarkably carried out operation.

The area consists of salt and cold mines, where mining began in 1968-69. Initially, the labour was hired from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, owing to their well known dexterity and hard work. However, in 1995-98 reports began to emerge that some people had been selling narcotics in the area. The reports continued to make rounds in the area, until in 2011, an FIR was filed against the drug peddlers.

The area is full of mountains and dense forest with no proper road network, and lacked police presence. Some small-scale operations, as per the reports, were carried out by the law enforcement agencies, but they achieved little success.

According to DPO Naveed, there were proper gangs who worked as per suitable timings and flow.

Following the failure of operation in 2011 another FIR was registered with Khushab Police. The police carried out the second operation in 2016 that was fairly successful but not completely a victory.

This area was a 2 hours drive from Khushab Police, hence the narco-gangs had a monitoring system to follow-up the police movement.

But a grand operation, in 2021, led by DPO Naveed began following a lengthy two months plan and support extended by the police high command, ”There was complete guidance and backup support of Provincial Police Chief Mr Inam Ghani and Regional Police Chief Mr.Ashfaq Ahmad Khan,” said DPO,

The police blocked their 14 exit points and narcotics chains. Then, they arrested the suppliers. Finally, when there were no supplies, no buyers- the narcotics gangs began to panic. They initially went through a war with each other, breaking ranks and weakening their power, following which the Khushab Police took immediate action to wipe them off in a final hit.

Among the four major gangs, the police arrested all of them, including ten gangsters—while further arrests are still in process till date.