Then there is the case of a Sirsa girl who was forced into prostitution to meet the demand of drugs of her father.

Theirs are not isolated cases. Rather, these speak of thousands of youths in Punjab and Haryana who, after being hooked on drugs, have become either a burden on their parents or have taken to petty crime, including snatching, to fund their daily dose of drugs.

Drugs have already taken a heavy toll in Maqboolpura (Amritsar), where between 1997 and 2003, as many as 50 able-bodied men died due to drug abuse, turning it into a locality of widows. The situation is no better in nearby Chheharta where during the same post-terrorism period, 52 persons died due to similar reasons.

Since the number of addicts has been on the rise, many villages and towns, especially in the Malwa and Majha belts, are heading for a similar or even worse disaster.

The situation is particularly bad in Punjab areas bordering Sirsa in Haryana and Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar in Rajasthan (Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Sangrur and Patiala), and also in the areas which border Himachal Pradesh (Gurdaspur and Pathankot). Other badly hit areas in Punjab are Ferozepore, Nawanshahr, Ludhiana, parts of Fatehgarh Sahib, Ropar and Moga districts.

“The situation is alarming not only in Punjab but also in Haryana,” says Mr Shivkant Yadav, who heads the Chandigarh office of the Narcotics Control Bureau. He enjoys the distinction of seizing 20,000 kg of “bhukki” in four months during his previous assignment as the police chief of Sirsa.

“If recent seizures of heroin in Nawanshahr, Khanna and Chandigarh are any indication, the border belt of Punjab has become a transit zone for taking contraband overseas after getting supplies from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The shift from conventional and traditional drugs to more potent and costly narcotics, including smack and heroin, in the region has also become apparent,” says Mr Naunihal Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Khanna. It was the Khanna police which seized 2.5 kg of heroin last week.

Two major seizures were made on April 16 by a joint team of the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Punjab Police (Intelligence Wing). In the first case, it intercepted Gurinder Singh Bhullar and his accomplice, Parkash Singh, with 8 kg of heroin and in the second Munish Verma, alias Bunti, and his woman accomplice, Komal Verma, alias Seema, who were carrying 4.5 kg of heroin.

Before that the bureau had busted an international gang of charas smugglers in Chandigarh. It not only apprehended its alleged kingpin, an Israeli, Lior Avi Ben Moyal,but also two of his main accomplices. It also made in the process its biggest ever seizure of charas (155 kg) in the history of Chandigarh.

Last year, it had also destroyed fields of cannabis in areas surrounding Kulu in Himachal Pradesh. Only yesterday, the Jammu and Kashmir police seized 2.5 kg of heroin from four persons, including two women, in Kathua.

Although bureau sleuths were on the trail of two other big consignments of heroin from across the border last week, the couriers either got wind of the dragnet or chose another route.

“Heroin from Pakistan or Afghanistan has a high purity and sells in the international market for a minimum of Rs 10 million a kg while in India it fetches much less,” says Mr Naunihal Singh. Compared to the contraband smuggled from Afghanistan or Pakistan, the Indian narcotic lacks purity and quality.

“The only disturbing phenomenon is that a part of the seizure made by us was meant for the domestic market.

Earlier, heroin smuggled from across the Indo-Pak border was for distribution overseas. Further, there are not many who can afford heroin as one dose costs no less than Rs 5,000,” he adds, maintaining that “pure heroin gives a ‘big kick’.”