3 women among 1,006 ice dealers arrested in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Three women are among 1,006 drug dealers held by the police during operations against ice (meth) in the provincial capital in the last over three months, it was learnt.

One of the alleged women traffickers is an auto-rickshaw driver who went viral on social media recently for being the first woman driving a three-wheeler in Peshawar.

Officials said she was arrested by the cops of the Faqirabad Police Station while carrying 215 grams of ice. Interestingly, a traffic cop recently did not issue her ticket for not having a registration plate on her vehicle.

The cop let her go after providing her snacks and making a self-projection video of the episode to upload it on his social media accounts.

The video went viral and was appreciated by the police bosses on various forums without realizing the blunder made by the cop.

Another woman was arrested by the cops of the Badaber Police Station for carrying 5.5 kilogram ice worth millions of rupees in the drug market.

“The Badaber police arrested the woman hailing from Punjab while carrying 5.5 kg ice. She is part of a narcotics ring, which is supplying ice to Rawalpindi and Islamabad,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Badaber, Malik Habib.

The third woman was held with 20 grams of ice by the University Town Police. The three women were arrested between March 26 and April 4.

“During our aggressive operation against ice dealers, we have arrested 1,006 accused and recovered a total of 74 kg ice from them during actions in the limits of various police stations in the capital city,” Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Yasir Afridi told The News.

He added that the SPs, DSPs and SHOs had been tasked to accelerate operations as well as awareness against ice and all kind of drugs in their respective areas. He added that those who performed well during the drive were recently rewarded.

“A special ice desk has been set up at the Police Lines that is working exclusively to collect data about all the drug dealers in the city and their connections in other districts,” said Yasir Afridi.

An aggressive operation against ice dealers, manufacturers and traffickers has been launched across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the number of its addicts increased manifold in recent years.

However, the number of addicts is still growing despite hectic efforts and operations by the police and other forces. Not only men but a large number of women and teenagers have become ice addicts. Besides, many addicts were found to be involved in various crimes.

A campaign has been launched in many districts to create awareness among the parents, teachers and general public about the harms of ice, heroin, hashish and other drugs.

It was learnt that some tablets and syrups being sold at medical stores are also being used by the addicts when they can’t find other drugs.

“We have also launched an awareness campaign involving educational institutions, prayer leaders, elected members, elders and other forums as part of the operation against the menace of drugs. The prayer leaders have been asked to educate people about the harms of ice and all kinds of drugs during Friday sermons,” said SSP Operations Peshawar.

According to official data, 55kg ice was recovered in Peshawar during the operations in 2019 while 73.4kg was seized in 2020.

The second biggest recovery, 57kg, was made by the Mardan district police in 2020. The recovery in Mardan in 2019 was 32kg.

Overall, the recovery in the Mardan region was the highest in 2020. A total of 115kg ice was recovered from the region which included 57kg from the divisional headquarters of Mardan, 34kg from Charsadda, 12kg from Nowshera and 11kg from Swabi.

A total of 39kg recovery of ice was made by the police in the remaining five divisions including Malakand, Hazara, Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan during the year 2020. The statistics showed that 9.8kg ice was recovered in Kohat region, 4kg in Hazara, 13kg in Bannu, 8.1kg in Dera Ismail Khan and 4.4kg in Malakand during 2020.