Gandhinagar: Drugs worth Rs 3,727 crore were seized by state law enforcement authorities over the past two years, said the Gujarat govt in the assembly on Wednesday. The assembly witnessed a heated debate between MLAs of the ruling party and the opposition over drug seizures in Jamnagar and Kutch districts, prompting the law minister to compare the state’s crime rates with Punjab and Kerala.AAP MLA Hemant Ahir raised the matter of drug seizures in Jamnagar and Kutch in the past two years, to which MoS (law and justice) Kaushik Vekariya replied that 135 cases were registered in the two districts, and action was initiated against 306 accused in drug seizures worth Rs 244 crore.
“These are not just statistics; they reflect the daring operations by our police officers who risk their lives in pitch-dark nights to seize these consignments,” said Vekariya, adding that, according to the National Crime Records Bureau 2023 report, Gujarat registered 561 crimes with a crime rate of 0.8%. He claimed this was the lowest in the country.The minister added, “Punjab registered over 11,500 crimes with a crime rate of 37.6%, while Kerala recorded 30,697 crimes with a crime rate of 85.7%. AAP is in power in Punjab, while the Left Democratic Front (LDF) governs Kerala.”When AAP MLAs protested the minister’s remarks about Punjab, Vekariya said the opposition should be prepared to listen. “I did not make any political remarks. They should be prepared to listen. I did not even name any govt,” the minister said.Even as speaker Shankar Chaudhary said the discussion should not be made political, Ahir said, “If we congratulate the Gujarat police, then we should also congratulate the Punjab police when drugs are caught in that state.” He sought to know what action was taken against ships that were used to transport drugs. Vekariya replied that 1,646 cases were registered statewide and around 41,000 kg of drugs worth Rs 3,727 crore were seized.Citing instances of govt action, DyCM Harsh Sanghavi said that a house in Kutch from where drugs were recovered was demolished and converted into a police station, and that he will shortly inaugurate the police station. Sanghavi said the Gujarat police adopted a “top-to-bottom” approach in investigating drugs-related cases, by arresting all those involved in the chain to supply narcotics.Congress MLA Amit Chavda said it is a matter of great concern that Gujarat is becoming a landing and consumption hub, and cases of open ganja cultivation are also surfacing. The state Congress chief sought to know how many of those arrested were the actual masterminds behind the drug networks rather than street-level peddlers.
