PUNJAB POLICE BUST MAJOR CROSS-BORDER HEROIN SMUGGLING RACKET

4 ARRESTED, BSF INFORMED FOR ACTION AGAINST CONSTABLE OVER COLLUSION

Chandigarh, July 3, 2018: In a major crackdown on smuggling of narcotics and weapons from across the border from Pakistan, the Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police has busted a gang of heroin smugglers and arrested four persons, including an ex-Army man, in this connection.

Police have seized from the suspects 14.8 kgs of heroin, valuing approximately Rs. 74 crores in the international market, along with one .30 bore Pistol.

The suspects have named one BSF constable posted at the border and two other associates as being involved in the smuggling racket.

The BSF authorities have been informed about the constable’s active collusion & conspiracy in drug smuggling and they have advised to initiate necessary action against him, according to a police spokesperson.

A case (FIR no.17 dated 01.07.2018 u/s 21,25,29 NDPS Act, 25 Arms Act) has been registered at PS SSOC Amritsar.

The arrests followed information received by the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), that some drug smugglers from Amritsar/Tarn Taran were in contact with Pak-based smugglers and were indulging in heroin smuggling through the Ramdas sector of the Indo-Pak border.

The suspects include Tarwinder Singh (ex-serviceman, who served in the Indian Army (13 Sikh) as a sepoy for 16 years before retiring on pension in 2016), and is the son of one Ajit Singh r/o village Nawan Jiwan, Lopoke, Amritsar.

The others have been identified as Sukhraj Singh @ Raja s/o Balkar Singh r/o village Chak Pandori, Lopoke, Amritsar; Gurlal Singh s/o Mangta Singh r/o village Bidhi Chand Chinna, Sarai Amant Khan, Tarn Taran; and Sarabjit Singh s/o Malkeet Singh r/o village Bidhi Chand Chinna, Sarai Amant Khan, Tarn Taran.

During preliminary investigations, the accused disclosed that they were successful in bringing the drug consignment from across-the-border in the Ramdass sector during the intervening night of 29/30 June 2018. They further revealed that one BSF constable, Chenthilraj Kanagaraj (no.041465015), who was on duty on the border on that night, was part of their conspiracy to smuggle heroin from Pakistan to India and had actively colluded with them.

They have also disclosed the names of two other associates i.e. Bikramjit Singh s/o Subeg Singh r/o village Manjh, Lopoke, Amritsar; and Gurjant Singh s/o Baldev Singh r/o village Sarangra, Lopoke, Amritsar, who were part of the team that had retrieved the heroin consignment from the border. Efforts are afoot to apprehend these two.

Investigations have revealed that Tarwinder Singh, Bikramjit Singh and Chenthilraj Kanagaraj (CK Raj) were in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers for quite some time. They were using different social media apps to communicate amongst themselves and with their Pakistan based associates.

It has been learnt that Bikramjit Singh had been earlier arrested in a heroin related NDPS case in 2017 and had been in Jail from from where he was bailed out in September 2017.

The BSF authorities have been intimated about the role of the BSF constable, Chenthilraj Kanagaraj (CK Raj) to ensure proceeding under the BSF Act. He would soon be taken on police remand and prosecuted by SSOC Amritsar for his active role in smuggling of heroin, said the spokesperson.