The Chief Minister's Office of Punjab announced on Thursday, June 25, 2026, that the state's sustained anti-gangster drive, Gangsteran Te Vaar, has entered its 156th day, with Punjab Police conducting 562 raids at identified and mapped locations linked to gangster associates across the state. On Day 156, police teams arrested individuals and recovered 16 weapons, pushing the campaign's cumulative arrest count to 40,353 since its launch. The raids targeted locations that had been pre-identified and mapped as part of the campaign's intelligence-led operational framework.

Context

Gangsteran Te Vaar — translating roughly from Punjabi as 'Strike on Gangsters' — is a sustained law-enforcement campaign by the Punjab government directed at dismantling organised criminal networks operating across the state. The campaign involves coordinated raids on associates of known gangsters, weapon seizures, and mass arrests aimed at disrupting the operational and logistical support structures that sustain gang activity. The official post from the Chief Minister's Office of Punjab described the campaign as 'decisive' (nirnayak), signalling the government's intent to frame the drive as a structural crackdown rather than a routine policing exercise.

Policy Backdrop

When the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power in Punjab in 2022, it identified the fight against drug mafias and gangster networks as a core law-and-order priority. Punjab has a documented history of organised crime networks that evolved in the post-militancy period, branching into extortion, contract killings, and narcotics trafficking. Periodic intensification of policing against such networks has been a recurring feature of governance in the state. What distinguishes the current campaign is its publicly tracked, day-by-day operational reporting, which the government has used to communicate progress to citizens and signal administrative accountability.

Stakeholders and Impact

Punjab Police is the primary operational agency executing the campaign, deploying teams across multiple districts to conduct simultaneous raids on mapped locations. The campaign's stated targets are associates of gangsters — individuals who provide logistical, financial, or operational support to criminal networks — rather than only the principals. For ordinary residents of Punjab, particularly in districts with historically high gang activity, sustained operations of this scale are intended to reduce extortion threats, gang-related violence, and the circulation of illegal weapons. The recovery of 16 weapons on a single campaign day, as part of a broader cumulative tally, reflects the volume of arms the police say are being removed from criminal networks.

What's Next

The government is expected to continue issuing daily campaign updates as Gangsteran Te Vaar progresses beyond Day 156. Analysts and civil society observers will watch for corresponding data on gang-related violence and extortion complaints to assess whether the arrest and seizure numbers are translating into measurable improvements in ground-level security. Any legislative discussion in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on supplementary policing powers or legal measures to consolidate gains from the campaign would also signal the government's longer-term institutional approach to organised crime in the state.