Extra fencing on Pak border to thwart drug peddling

More BSF deployed

A 150-km long barbed fence along the Punjab border with Pakistan will be additionally erected to block all existing vulnerable areas in this porous border belt to thwart drug peddling.

The project will be executed expeditiously in the wake of a spurt in drug peddling from across the border. Punjab shares a 554-km long border with neighbouring Pakistan, which is largely secured with fence. Additional thermal imaging equipment is being requisitioned to thwart any nefarious attempt from the other side of the border, sources said.

Already, one more battalion has been sanctioned for the Punjab border and floodlights have been installed at sensitive vulnerable points. The problem though still remains largely alive along the 30-odd km long riverine belt along the Punjab border where the BSF has stepped up its surveillance measures.

The magnitude of drug peddling along the Punjab border can be gauged from the fact that the recovery of the high-priced heroin in this belt in just the first three months of this year has crossed the half-way mark of the total recovery of heroin last year. The BSF in Punjab has recovered 145 kg of heroin till date this year, against 288 kg of heroin recovered through entire last year.

BSF officials say the attempts have become too frequent. As it is, the ongoing harvesting season witnesses increased activity and a spurt in such cases.
BSF sources maintain that the participation of the Pakistan security agencies to check drug trade in this border belt too appears less impacting given that the deployment of forces could be elsewhere because of the elections in Pakistan.

Wednesday’s recovery of 52 kg of heroin by the BSF- that was stuffed inside a 12-feet long plastic pipe - after a three-hour long gun battle with drug peddlers equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, explains not just the escalating problem on the Punjab border but also the approach of Pakistan rangers, who arguably prefer to turn a blind eye to such open misadventure by armed drug peddlers.