Punjab Police bust cross-border smuggling racket, 6 kg heroin seized

Chandigarh, Aug 3 (IANS) Punjab Police has busted a cross-border drug smuggling racket with the arrest of one person after recovering 6 kg heroin and Rs 1.5 lakh drug money from his possession, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said here on Thursday.

The accused has been identified as Shinder Singh, a resident of Jalandhar. He’s a habitual drug smuggler and has already been facing two criminal cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

DGP Yadav said the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) of Amritsar had received input that the accused and his accomplices had recently procured the big consignment of heroin pushed into the Indian territory by the Pakistan-based smugglers and agencies using the riverine route in the Ferozepur sector and they are present around Amritsar to deliver the consignment to a party.

"Acting promptly, the Special Police team of the SSOC Amritsar launched an operation and cordoned off the area in a planned manner resulting in the arrest of accused Shinder Singh," he said.

Sharing more details about the preliminary investigations, AIG SSOC Sukhminder Singh Mann said that it has come to light that the Pakistan-based smugglers have exploited a gap emerged due to floods in the fencing along the river to smuggle the drug consignment.

He said further investigations are being conducted to unearth the entire network of drug suppliers, dealers and their buyers. Efforts are being made to probe their backward and forward linkages to take the investigations to the logical conclusion by the arrest of remaining members of this group, he added.