Drugs and Punjab
A juvenile with 15 packets of heroin, has been arrested. The heroin weighed one kg each, taking it to 15-kilo heroin, and an amount of Rs 8.4, lakh in cash was retrieved in Amritsar by Punjab Police.
The initial investigation showcased that the drugs consignment, which directs an international worth of an astronomical Rs 75 crore, was brought into India with the help of Pakistan-based smugglers who airdropped it into the Indian territory.
The (DGP) Director General of Police, Punjab, Gaurav Yadav confirmed this and declared that reliable inputs; were followed by the Counter Intelligence (CI) department of Police teams, Amritsar.
And a naka was laid on Ram Tirath Road where the Juvenile, with his accomplice alongside, later identified as Resham Singh of Amritsar’s Khasa village, were located while they were on a motorcycle on their way to deliver the drug consignment.
Yadav said at first sight that Resham Singh seemed to be the architect of the cross-border narcotics contraband racket, who managed to flee from the scene. Police teams started a thorough search to find them, he added.
“The drugs were recovered from the suspects from the Kakkar village area. Initial investigations showcased that the drug consignment was sent into India by Pakistan-based traffickers by using a drone to airdrop the contraband,” he said.
The Amritsar AIG, CI, Amarjit Singh Bajwa, reported that the grandfather and father of the juvenile, were already imprisoned for the same reasons under the (NDPS) Act – Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
“More investigations have started to figure out, who was the sender of the consignment from across the border and who was the receiver to whom the suspects were on their way to deliver the contraband,” said AIG, Bajwa.
Simultaneously, FIR No. 6 case has been, registered under Sections 25, 21, and 29 of the NDPS Act, at the police station in Amritsar at the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC).
The Juvenile is just 17 years old and a resident of Amritsar, arrested for smuggling drugs.
Apart from Drugs and money, a Hero Deluxe Motorcycle was recovered by the police, on which he was going to deliver the contraband with his accomplice.
This was the second case, in the past 10 days where the drugs were impounded.
Recent cases of drugs
On 29 January, the Punjab Police smashed a drug smuggling trans-border cartel by arresting a smuggler after retrieving five packets of heroin, which weighed 5 Kg, and an amount of Rs. 12.15 lakh drug money from his control when a special checking took place at Lopoke in Thattha village, Amritsar.
The (ED) Enforcement Directorate and Drugs
The enforcement directorate (ED) conducted searches in various locations in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab in connection with a plethora of drug smuggling cases, registered by the Punjab Police.
The residential and business premises of Gajjan Singh, Skattar Singh, Makhan Singh, their associates, and family members in Tarn Taran district’s Naushehra Pannuan, Sheron, and Bugha villages; were scoured during the operation.
A large number of documents were seized by the agency related to immovable properties worth crores of Rupees.
Some packets contained psychotropic substances, which appeared to be derivates of opium, and opium itself. All were allegedly, seized from the residential premises in Sheron village of Skattar Singh and his family.
The aftermath of this was a request made to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for testing and verification of the suspicious products.
“According to the NCB officials, the suspected substance was heroin which weighed around 2.2 kgs, which was seized and tested by them in the presence of ED officials,” an agency official said.
A few packets of “white powdery” substance, which weighed around 13.98 Kg, were found at Skattar Singh’s shop, who is Baba Sidana Trading Company’s Proprietor at Naushehra Pannuan, for which a request was made to the NCB for testing and verification.
The NCB officials confiscated the substance for further action.
Apart from this, the ED, had seized three pistols, two rifles, and live cartridges. Two pistols and one rifle were found at Skattar Singh’s residence, while the others seized from his brother Makhan Singh’s house.
The official said, “The issue was reported to the local police, because the availability of the original licenses for some of the arms was not there, and they were given to the police.”
International drugs racket
An international drug smuggling racket was busted by NCB that led to the arrest of 16 persons, which included two Afghan nationals. The network included local gangsters who ran heroin processing units in Ludhiana, Punjab, and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
Links to Afghanistan were found, the crude heroin was being transported through maritime routes and land from Afghanistan; the smuggling of the contrabands was being managed from Pakistan, and the (UAE) United Arab Emirates.
Punjab border and drugs
Amid the ongoing ‘war against drugs,’ in a joint operation by the Punjab Police with Border Security Force (BSF) and central agencies, arrested an aide of an Army personnel and the Army personnel after 29 packets of heroin were recovered, which weighed 31.02 Kg, from their possession, said (DGP) Director General of Police, Punjab – Gaurav Yadav.
The army personnel aged 26, who was – posted in Pathankot as a sepoy, was arrested with his accomplice Paramjeet Singh from Fazilka’s Mahalam Village. Apart from the heroin, 2 mobile phones and a car were seized from their possession.
Border Security Force’s (BSF) director-general, Pankaj Singh stated in November that in 2022 in the Punjab sector of the border, the drone forays have almost doubled. BSF reported 266 drone flights from January to November in the year 2022.
(DIG) The deputy inspector general, of the BSF, Pawan Bajaj at the Ferozepur sector told “When a comparison is made to the previous year a substantial increase from the Pakistan side in drone transgression is seen. These drones sometimes carry arms, but majorly bring heroin.”