12 kg heroin in transit from Pakistan to New Delhi seized

Amritsar, July 6, 2014: Close on the heels of neutralization of a major international drug cartel with seizure of 27 kg heroin In Transit from Pakistan to Rajasthan (via J&K) on June 27, 2014, Punjab Police has successfully concluded a week-long intelligence-based operation to break the transit lines of the second top drug cartel emanating from Pakistan, on July 5, 2014 with seizure of 12 kg heroin in transit from Pakistan to New Delhi (via J&K), 2 Chinese-made .30 bore pistols and arrest of 2 top smugglers, including the Delhi-based “end-recipient” Raman Pandit from New Delhi.
Disclosing this here today, Ishwar Chander, Inspector General of Police, Border, Amritsar said that information was received and systematically developed by a special team led by Sh. Rajjit Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Tarn Taran regarding transit of a major heroin consignment being pushed by top Pak smuggler Akram Dayal from Muzaffarabad in Pak-Occupied Kashmir (POK) through the J&K sector, transiting Punjab and destined for “end-recipients” based in Delhi. The operation culminated on July 5, 2014 with the interception of top smuggler Bhajan Singh transiting the consignment through Punjab near the outskirts of Tarn Taran City on a motorcycle. This is the breaking of transit lines of the second major Pakistan drug cartel. The first cartel comprising Lahore-based “Kalu Chairman” and “Nasir” (of Pakistan) was pushing heroin from across the border from J&K sector to Rajasthan, and, the second cartel led by top drug smuggler Akram Dayal (Pakistan) was pushing heroin to “end-recipients” in New Delhi for further funnelling to the international market/feeding the distribution network in India.
He revealed that three days prior to the interception of the heroin consignment  in transit at Tarn Taran, Punjab Police parties were stationed in New Delhi to nab the “end-recipients” immediately upon interception of the consignment. The operation at New Delhi was undertaken under the supervision of Sh. P.S. Grewal, Inspector General of Police, India Reserve Battalions (IRB) who camped in New Delhi to supervise the operation.
He pointed out that the Pak smuggler Akram Dayal was independently in telephonic contact with Bhajan Singh and Delhi-based “end-recipient” Raman Pandit who were to establish telephonic contact on instructions from the Pakistani end to fix a rendezvous point (RV) in Delhi for delivery of the consignment. The Pakistan smugglers were conducting their activities in a cautious manner, using “cut-offs” who were not aware about each other, except on telephonic instructions from Pakistan.
He said that after interception of the consignment contact was established with “end-recipient” Raman Pandit, through Pakistan. They fixed the rendezvous point near Imperial cinema, Paharganj, New Delhi in the evening. The pre-positioned Punjab Police party already in Delhi swung into action and covered the RV point. At the fixed time and place, when Raman Pandit arrived, he was arrested by the Punjab Police. The top “end-recipient” Raman Pandit was lured to the RV point, trapped, arrested and brought back to Punjab for further investigations.
He informed that Raman Pandit s/o Ganda Ram r/o 299-B, Lok Vihar, Pritampura, New Delhi- arrested from near Imperial cinema, Pahargunj, New Delhi on July 5, 2014 and Bhajan Singh s/o Karnail Singh r/o village Kakkar Kalan, PS  Lopoke, district Amritsar Rural – arrested from Punjab and 12 kg heroin, 2 Chinese made .30 bore pistols with 2 magazines , 12 cartridges .30 bore and a Hero Honda Splendour motorcycle was recovered from them. A case FIR No. 257 dated 05-07-2014 u/s 21/61/85 NDPS Act, 25 Arms Act has been registered in PS City Tarn Taran.
The IGP/Border Zone said that investigations have revealed that the consignment was collected from near the border with Pak Occupied Kashmir (POK) by one Gurjit Singh who was deputed for this purpose by Bhajan Singh and the consignment was delivered to Bhajan Singh for further transiting it to the “end-recipient” Raman Pandit. Police parties have been dispatched for effecting the arrest of Gurjit Singh. Investigations have also revealed that Raman Pandit was in touch with Akram Dayal for the last 5 years.
The Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police is liaisoning with the affected states J&K (from where the heroin consignments are being pushed through), Rajasthan (with regard to end-recipient Kheru r/o Jaisalmer and his associates), and, Delhi (with regard to activities of Raman Pandit) for co-ordination and information-sharing. Further investigations are in progress.
Action against top heroin smugglers
The relevant figures of heroin seizures of preceding three years are as under:  

There is manifold increase in quantity of heroin seizures from top smugglers. This heroin originated from Pakistan, was mostly in transit to “end-recipients” outside the state where (a) after dilution/adulteration, the heroin is thrown in the distribution network in various states of the country, including Punjab, and, (b) smuggled to the international market.
ACTION TO BREAK SUPPLY LINES OF LOCAL CONSUMPTION
The relevant seizures of preceding  three years are as following:

Pharmaceutical origin seizures

Local consumption of pure heroin in the state was minimal. There is manifold increase in seizure of smack, which was meant for local consumption in the state. The connsumption of pharmaceutical origin intoxicants was a major problem in the State. A multi-fold increase in such seizures is  seen. For example, as against about 61 lakh pills/capsules seized in 2011, over 3 Crore such intoxicants were seized in 2013. During the drive to break the supply line, effective steps have been taken to plug ‘unauthorized’ consumption.
To take action against smugglers of opium, poppy-husk, charas etc. who used to send such narcotics to the state, Punjab Police parties have gone to other states like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to (a) arrest top smugglers and (b) effect seizures.
In the recent drive against drug trafficking in the state, a large number of persons in the supply line have been arrested. A large number of persons had to be proceeded against since even small quantities of hard drugs like heroin/smack used to change several hands before reaching the end consumers through the street peddlers. This exercise has been carried out under the personal supervision of the district SSPs and is limited to the supply line terminating at peddler level.
POLICE SUPPORT IN DE-ADDICTION OF FORMER CONSUMERS
Due to the breaking of the supply lines and distribution system in the state there is no availability of drugs to the former consumers. As a result former consumers are flocking to de-addiction centres in large numbers. In the last fortnight over 80,000 former consumers have been treated as OPD patients and over 1,200 as indoor patients in the state hospitals, community health centres and de-addiction centres. Out of these over 10,000 have been brought/referred to the hospital/de-addiction center by the police personnel. Each and every village has been covered by the SHO/concerned gazetted officer (GO) for this purpose. The police support to former consumers is being supervised by the concerned Zonal IGPs.