PUNJAB POLICE BUST PAK-ISI BACKED CROSS BORDER DRUG SMUGGLING MODULE; TWO OPERATIVES HELD WITH PISTOLS

CHANDIGARH/MOHALI, June 21:

          Amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the vision of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police have busted a cross border smuggling module backed by Pak-ISI, with the arrest of its two operatives from Mohali, said AIG SSOC SAS Nagar Ashwani Kapur here on Wednesday. Police teams have also recovered two .30 bore pistols along with ten live cartridges from their possession.

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

          AIG Ashwani 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 alias Gora, 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.

          The AIG said that further investigations are underway to identify and apprehend other individuals associated with this module.