RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18 Follow us on: @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer instagram.com/dailypioneer/ Established 1864 Late City Vol. 154 Issue 329 Published From *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable NATION 5 WORLD 6 SPORT 10 DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL PM USED SURGICAL STRIKE ROUHANI: US SANCTIONS GAMBHIR SMASHES BHUBANESWAR RANCHI FOR POLITICAL GAINS: RAHUL ARE ‘ECONOMIC TERRORISM’ TON IN LAST INNINGS RAIPUR CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN LUCKNOW, SUNDAY DECEMBER 9, 2018; PAGES 12+8 `3 www.dailypioneer.com USUALSUSPECTS SWAPAN DASGUPTA Narcotics seizures show deep poll rot Liquor, drugs’ use during elections worrying factor If success, it is Rahul’s; RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI Haul of ganja, gold esides the failure of demon- Betisation to check the ram- failure is for lesser beings pant use of black money in the just-concluded Assembly elec- keeps DRI engaged here will always be sharp differences of opinion over the tions in the five States, the Tveracity of exit polls and, for that matter, exit polls. In view alarming haul of drugs and RAKESH K SINGH n NEW DELHI work involved in the illicit of the erratic track record of such polls there will always be narcotics has been the most business. The gold was smug- those who are inclined to dismiss their projected outcome as worrying factor. From heroin anja and gold kept India’s gled from the India-Bhutan erroneous. This temptation will be even more marked if the to brown sugar to anti-depres- Ganti-smuggling units on border. polls go against what politicians want the results to be, sants, the `17-crore haul indi- toes last fiscal. If the Directorate In 2017-18 fiscal, the rather than what will be. TV channels don’t make matters cated how deep the problem is. of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) agency even busted four major easier by often pretending that their exit poll constitutes the As for the cash recoveries by seized 10,000 kg ganja more in factories involved in manu- last word on the subject and equating it — at least for a few the Election Commission (EC), 2017-18 than the fiscal pre- facturing of synthetic drugs in days — with the eventual outcome. The media, in fact, feeds barring Chhattisgarh, the ceding it, the seizure of gold Tamil Nadu, Telangana and on an impression that exit polls are a huge Tamasha. seizures — besides gold and sil- more than doubled during the Maharashtra leading to major As things stand over this weekend, the outcome of the ver — almost doubled since the same period. seizures of Ketamine, exit polls don’t seem to augur too well for the BJP. No doubt last Assembly polls in the other The DRI seized a whop- Mephedrone, Ephedrine and there are mixed outcomes forecast from Chhattisgarh, four States this time. ping 26,785 kg ganja in 2017- Alprazolam. Syndicates always a very difficult state to predict, and Madhya Pradesh. Of the seizures of over 18 in comparison to 16,197 kg involved in manufacture, pack- Many of the polls forecast either a hung Assembly or an `300 crore, `170 crore was in 2016-17. Incidentally, the aging, transport and possible outright Congress victory. They balance those exit polls that cash, with Telangana leading seizures of psychotropic sub- export of psychotropic sub- see the BJP returning to power in both Raipur and Bhopal. the way accounting for `115 stances, mostly made in South stances and synthetic drugs In the case of Rajasthan, the exit polls seem unanimous crore. The Assembly polls in India, accounted for 50 per were neutralised. “Synthetic that the see-saw pattern of politics will see the exit of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, for `25.39 crore. methamphetamine, heroin, Former Chief Election cent of the haul. drugs pose an emerging threat Vasundhara Raje and her replacement by a Congress Chief Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Booze flowed freely in the tablets of antidepressants Commissioner OP Rawat has As for gold, 3,223 kg of the to South-Asia in general and Minister. In short, it would appear that the recurrent whisper Mizoram was thus one heady States as the recoveries were Alprazolam and Tramadol. All pointed out that demonetisa- yellow metal worth `974 crore India in particular,” the agency of a late swing back to the BJP may well turn out to be mix of cash, jewellery, liquor whopping 17.29 lakh litres this worth `16.85 crore. tion didn’t reduce the use of was seized in comparison to warned in its latest report. illusory. and drugs/narcotics. worth `53.51 crore. The value In Telangana, the EC’s misuse of black money in elec- 1,422 kg worth `472 crore in The report, published by It is best to leave the state-wise post-mortem to the Interestingly, Chhattisgarh of other items, including vehi- seizure stood at `137 crore tions. Apart from cash, over 10 2016-17. Majority of gold DRI, revealed that in case of afternoon of December 11 when the actual results will be is the only State where overall cles and illegal arms, stood at which included `115.16 crore lakh litres of liquor worth `15 seizures was from the four illicit drugs, the number of known. However, there is no mistaking the fact that the seizure of cash, jewellery, drugs `31.35 crore. in cash and 689 gram diamond, crore was seized across metros which are high con- seizures in the last fiscal stalwarts of the ruling party and, indeed, the Narendra Modi and liquor is lower this year as But then, besides liquor, 147 gram platinum, 18 kg Telangana over the last one sumption centres. increased to 78, up from 64 in government will be spending this weekend in a state of compared to the last Assembly the new and the most disturb- gold,106 kg silver worth `6.70 month. In fact, the agency carried 2016-17. Ganja is mostly trans- utmost anxiety. polls in 2013. ing trend that was observed this crore. As much as 3,754 kg The amount of money out a major operation on ported through commercial It is still too early to enter into the realms of speculation As per the EC’s data, apart Assembly election was the use drugs (ganja, denatonium ben- seized this year is nearly `50 Thursday and Friday in vehicles by concealments in but what seems certain is that in the event the outcome is from the recovery of unac- of drugs and narcotics in the zoate, cocaine, brown sugar, crore more than the amount Lucknow and Siliguri (West false partitions, secret cavities unfavourable to the BJP — this, in effect, means that the counted `300 crore cash from five States during polls. The opium, afeem doodh) were seized during the 2014 Bengal) and seized 66 kg gold and undercover cargo to avoid party loses another state apart from Rajasthan, where a the five States during the elec- haul included brown sugar, seized since the announce- Assembly elections held for the worth `21 crore and arrested detection by law enforcement defeat was always tion campaign, jewellery, gold, smack, opium, ganja, cocaine, ment of election schedule in the combined Andhra Pradesh. four persons who are being agencies. factored in — here will be silver and platinum accounted denatonium benzoate, first week of October. Turn to Page 4 questioned on the larger net- Turn to Page 4 If exit polls prove some explanations in order. For a start, there will right, the Congress be a temptation to attribute the setbacks to Bengal BJP Mass arrests in revival will be local anti-incumbency. Bulandshahr SSP Congress protests raid on The sub-text will imply that Paris; ‘yellow attributed to the the outcome of the files caveat Assembly polls will not Vadra aides, says scared inspirational necessarily be replicated among 3 shifted, in SC, HC for vest’ protests leadership provided by in the general election of April-May 2019. rath yatras Modi targeting Opp spill to Belgian In the event the results Jitu Fauji arrested Rahul. The show a marked revival of Kolkata: Stepping up efforts to PNS n NEW DELHI linked to Robert Vadra on AFP n PARIS/BRUSSELS the Congress, a party PNS/AGENCY n Special Task Force for further make sure that the Bengal Friday. contribution of local which had grown LUCKNOW/JAMMU investigation,” said police. Government does not pose he Congress on Saturday “The people in power espe- rmoured vehicles rolled stalwarts be it Kamal accustomed to adversity UP Principal Secretary any more hurdles for its “rath Tjumped into the defence of cially PM is thinking that the Athrough central Paris on since 2014, there will be he Uttar Pradesh (Home) Arvind Kumar on yatras” on December 12, the its leader Sonia Gandhi’s son- exit polls are right and are Saturday as riot police clashed Nath in Madhya an equal temptation to see TGovernment on Saturday Saturday said that the West Bengal unit of the BJP in-law Robert Vadra whose scared. People in Opposition are with and arrested “yellow vest” the results as indicative of transferred Bulandshahr Senior Bulandshahr SSP will be filed caveat in the Supreme associates were raided by the being targeted by sending IT, protesters, who set fire to bar- Pradesh and Sachin a national trend. For the Superintendent of Police (SSP) replaced by Sitapur SP Court and the Calcutta High Enforcement Directorate (ED) ED. I want to ask Modi rather ricades and hurled rocks in the Congress, the most Krishna Bahadur Singh to the Prabhakar Chaudhary. Court on Saturday. saying that people in power, blame him why such things are latest demonstrations against Pilot will be important issue is the DGP office in Lucknow, five Additional Director The Bengal Government especially Prime Minister happening in his rule,” Sibal President Emmanuel Macron.