PESHAWAR, July 27: Police and social welfare department officials on Wednesday picked up 20 heroin addicts from the premises of the University of Peshawar and shifted them to the detoxification ward of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).

They would be kept for treatment for a fortnight, an official at the Rehabilitation Centre for drug addicts told this correspondent, and said that after detoxification they would be shifted to the provincial government’s rehabilitation centre, situated at Saddique Coloney.

Presently there are 31 patients at the rehabilitation centre who are trained as electrician and carpenters for about two months.

The rehabilitation centre can only accommodate 30 patients, and if the number increases they are sent to other rehabilitation centres in Dir, Swat and Kohat.

“Another rehabilitation centre at Kakakhel has also been opened,” an official of the rehabilitation centre said.

The social welfare department in collaboration with police had picked up more than 40 heroin addicts in four raids during the last two weeks.