Punjab Police bust cross-border smuggling module; 5 kg heroin seized

Chandigarh, Sep 20 (IANS) Amid the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and drug-free state as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a cross-border narcotics smuggling module being operated by foreign-based handler Harpal Singh and arrested one of its operative after recovering 5 kg heroin from his possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said here on Saturday.  

The arrested accused has been identified as Pawandeep Singh, a resident of Beharwal in Amritsar. DGP Yadav said that during questioning, the arrested accused Pawandeep has revealed that he was working under the directions of his foreign-based handler Harpal Singh, a native of Kohala village in Amritsar, and currently living in the US.

The latter is directly in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers and arranged several consignments of narcotics and weapon from across the border with the help of drones, he said.

He said further investigations have revealed that Harpal Singh, who migrated to the US about two years ago, appears to have initially had a clean record but may have later become involved in the drug smuggling trade after settling abroad.

Sharing operation details, the DGP said that the CI Amritsar had received specific intelligence about retrieval of narcotics consignments from Indo-Pakistan border area falling near Dhanoe Kalan village in Amritsar.

Acting swiftly, police team intercepted the suspect Pawandeep Singh from near Beharwal village in Amritsar, when he was going to further deliver the consignment to some party and recovered narcotics from his possession, he said.

Further investigations are underway to uncover the network’s backward and forward linkages in this case to expose the full nexus.

A case dated September 19 has been registered under Sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.

Earlier, in a major breakthrough against cross-border narco-terror networks, Amritsar Commissionerate Police, busted two more narcotic cartels with the arrest of six drug traffickers and recovered 9.066 kg heroin from their possession, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said on Thursday.

Those arrested have been identified as Honey, 18, Parmdeep Singh, alias Paras, 18, Harwinder Singh, alias Hinda, 19, Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, 25, Jasbir Kaur, 40, and Kulwinder Kaur, 54.

The development comes a day after Amritsar Commissionerate Police had busted a drug smuggling syndicate being operated by Moga-based Jagpreet Singh, alias Jagga, with the arrest of its key operative, identified as Yasin Mohammed and recovered 7.1 kg heroin from his possession.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that a foreign-based notorious gangster, Harpreet, alias Happy Jatt, a native of Jandiala Guru, had direct links with Pakistan-based smugglers and was running this network using social media platforms.

The DGP said two first information reports (FIRs) have been registered at the police station in Chheharta in Amritsar, and further investigation is on to identify wider networks and cross-border linkages in both cases.

--IANS

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