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Busting a drugs racket involving smugglers from India and Pakistan, police Tuesday recovered 19 kg heroin and arrested four people, including a BSF trooper, from Punjab's border Tarn Taran district. Following the interrogation of three arrested smugglers, police also arrested a Border Security Force (BSF) trooper who used to help the smugglers in the drugs racket. The heroin recovered is worth about Rs.95 crore in the international market, police officials said. Tarn Taran police chief Rajjit Singh said Tuesday that that the drugs haul was made in a joint operation by the district police and the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC). Three people, Rachpal Singh, Gurwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, all belonging to Tarn Taran district, 280 km from here, were arrested, he said. Rachpal Singh was the kingpin of the drugs racket on the Indian side and was in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers, the police chief said, adding the heroin stock was recovered from Sarhali village. He said that BSF constable Gurpreet Singh was nabbed after a trap was laid following information provided by the arrested smugglers. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/360529/19-kg-heroin-seized-punjab.html

This trend if not stopped will get worse and worse, seriously what alternatives are there, whos's to blame? Alarming rise in HIV among drug addicts Against the national average of 10% among injectable drug users, the count stands much high at 40% in Amritsar and 27% in Tarn Taran Perneet Singh Tribune News Service (Above) the locked gate of the de-addiction centre at Kairon village in Tarn Taran district and (Below) drug wrappers and injections lie strewn at a deserted building next to the Civil Hospital. Photos: Vishal Kumar Tarn Taran, January 7 The rampant drug addiction among youths in Punjab is putting them at the risk of bigger danger — HIV infection. The HIV prevalence among injectable drug users (IDUs) is 27 per cent in Tarn Taran and 40 per cent in Amritsar, much above the national average of 10 per cent. The Opiod Substitution Therapy (OST) Centre here has over 1,000 registered male patients, of whom 180 have been regularly visiting the centre to avail the treatment. Amritsar too has an OST Centre with 420 men listed with it; 90 have been visiting regularly for treatment. Confirming the figures, the centre’s nodal officer, Dr Rana Ranbir Singh, said most alarming was the fact that HIV prevalence had far exceeded the national average in these border areas. OST centres are an initiative of the National Aids Control Organisation, which provides free medicines for the treatment of IDUs. Sources said one of the main reasons behind the increasing number of IDUs was that addicts find injecting drugs cost-effective. By injecting drugs, primarily heroin, into their veins, they get a high with a small quantity of the drug. On the other hand, addicts end up wasting a part of the heroin if they sniff it, said sources. Apart from heroin, the border belt youth are getting hooked on to smack and pharmaceutical drugs like morphine. The addicts mostly are in the 20-40 age group, but they cut across different sections of the society. Another cause for concern was the easy availability of drugs, which was corroborated by various individuals. An addict from Sakhyawali village said he never faced any problem in getting his daily dose. He said most of those dealing in the drug trade themselves were addicts. A physician from Guru Ka Khu village said drug peddlers and addicts could easily be spotted on the streets carrying out their deals in a secretive manner. “Some people even run the drug racket from their houses,” he said. Among the areas where drug addiction is on the rise in Tarn Taran are Patti, Khemkaran, Valtoha and Khalra, besides villages like Kazikot, Valipur, Bugga, Palsora, Fatehchak and Muradpur. De-addiction facilities ill-equipped Though drug addiction is rising in the border belt, de-addiction facilities seem to be unmatchable. A couple of months back, only the district headquarters had de-addiction and OST centres in its civil hospital. The de-addiction centre in Patti got functional two months ago, but it is yet to start proper medication of addicts. A de-addiction centre located at Kairon village near Patti has been lying shut for the past sometime while the infrastructure inside it is rotting. The authorities have neither shifted its furniture to a hospital nor put the building to an alternative use. This, despite the fact that addicts from Patti had been visiting Tarn Taran for treatment in the past. Dr Rana, also the in-charge of the Patti centre, said the town will soon have its own OST centre and Tarn Taran will become the first district in the country to have two OST centres. Worst-hit areas in Tarn Taran Patti, Khemkaran, Valtoha and Khalra and villages like Kazikot, Valipur, Bugga, Palsora, Fatehchak and Muradpur. Addicts using deserted buildings Drug addicts have been exploiting the premises of government hospitals and de-addiction centres to have their daily dose of drugs. The Tribune team spotted the leftovers of paper used to sniff drugs at a deserted building of the Panchayati Raj Department located on the premises of the Tarn Taran Civil Hospital, besides a room inside the de-addiction centre building in Patti. Superintendent of Police (detective) Harvinder Singh said he would be issuing orders to all station house officers to keep an eye on deserted buildings in the district.

*****Youth Show Tonight***** A recent study stuggests that 70% of Panjabs youth are hooked on drugs. Bhaji Sarbjit Singh RajoanaTv along with a Pharmaceutical expert will discuss this issue that India wants to sweep under the carpet. During the 80s Sikhs were mowed down with bullets, are they now using needles and illegal chemists to finish the job? WATCH TO FIND OUT TONIGHT, SANGAT TV CH. 847, 8.30 UK TIME. Watch online at http://sangattelevision.org/ Please let others know to tune in.

After making the people of Panjab addicted to liquor, drugs, dividing them into different deras; now are trying to make the state a gambling den. http://timesofindia....ow/15337885.cms