Punjab Police bust cross-border smuggling module of ISI

Chandigarh, June 21 (IANS) Punjab Police have busted a cross-border smuggling module backed by Pakistan ISI with the arrest of its two operatives from Mohali, said Assistant Inspector General Ashwani Kapur here on Wednesday.

Two .30 bore pistols along with 10 cartridges were recovered from their possession.

Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, alias Gora, alias Armaan Chauhan, a resident of Kot Ise Khan village in Moga, and Rohit Singh, a resident of Sri Ganganagar, in Rajasthan. Both have criminal background as cases under the NDPS registered against them in Punjab, while they were also wanted by the Narcotics Control Bureau in a commercial quantity drug smuggling case registered in Rajasthan.

IG Kapur said preliminary investigations suggest that the arrested persons were key members of a highly organised cross-border smuggling module that had direct links to Pakistan-based drug smugglers.

The module was actively involved in smuggling of contraband across the Indo-Pakistan border, posing a significant threat to national security, he said.

The accused Gurpreet Singh, who is a model and singer by profession, played crucial roles in facilitating the movement of hawala money, an illegal and clandestine method of transferring funds, which further enabled the financing of the cross-border smuggling activities.

The other accused, Rohit Singh, used to provide location coordinates to Pakistan entities along the Rajasthan and Punjab border via Gurpreet Singh alias Gora and thus facilitated the retrieval of heroin consignments via drones.