Chandigarh: Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora has clarified his statement on the ‘big fish’ involved in the state's drug trade. In a statement issued here on Friday, he said his remarks on the issue had been misconstrued.

Chandigarh: Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora has clarified his statement on the ‘big fish’ involved in the state's drug trade. In a statement issued here on Friday, he said his remarks on the issue had been misconstrued.

He had not said or suggested that there were no big fish in the drugs business in Punjab, said Arora, adding that he had referred to the absence of big fish in the context of the fact that some of the big drug pushers had fled the state in the wake of the crackdown on the drugs racket by the Captain Amarinder Singh government.

Though the police had successfully nabbed many big peddlers with huge seizures, some others had managed to escape and a hunt had been launched for them, he added. As the chief minister himself had pointed out on several occasions, some of the big smugglers and traders had run away from Punjab to evade arrest and escape punishment for their crimes, said the DGP.

The STF and other agencies engaged in the anti-drugs operation were after them and would ensure that they are brought back to face penalisation, he added. The Chief Minister had issued strict directions to the police and other agencies not to spare anyone involved in drugs trade, which had left a whole generation of youth ruined for life, he said, adding that the police was tracking various clues to net these big fish and bring them to justice.