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Attari heroin haul case: Kingpin a seasoned criminal, say police
On June 29, customs officials of the customs had recovered 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of mixed narcotics from the consignment of 600-bag of rock salt imported from Pakistan at the integrated check post (ICP) Attari.
Police have revealed that Ranjit Singh alias Rana, who was identified as the kingpin in the drug haul case by the customs department on Friday, was earlier booked in three cases.
Station house officer (SHO) of Sara-E-Amanat Khan in Tarn Taran, Ranjit Singh, said, “As per our preliminary investigation, we have come to know that Rana was booked in an arms case and in a fake counterfeit currency case by Faridkot and Amritsar rural police in 2007, respectively.”
He said, “In Faridkot, Rana was booked after he was arrested with an illegal pistol while Kathunangal police in Amritsar had booked him after recovering ₹10 lakh counterfeit currency from him.”
As per the SHO, Rana was also booked by Amritsar-sadar police in a case registered under Excise Act in 2006. “It is, however, yet to be ascertained whether the accused was convicted in the case or not,” he added.
Rana, who was living in Baba Darshan Singh Avenue at Ram Tirath road, had left his ancestral village Havelian along the India-Pakistan border in Tarn Taran around seven years ago.
Havelian village sarpanch Sarmukh Singh had on Saturday confirmed that Rana has 1.5 acres of land along the border.
On June 29, customs officials had recovered 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of mixed narcotics from the consignment of 600-bag of rock salt imported from Pakistan at the integrated check post (ICP) Attari.
Later, the customs had arrested Gurpinder Singh, an Amritsar-based importer who placed the salt’s order, and Tariq Ahmed, a Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) man, and sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.
During further investigation, the customs traced owner of the truck which was supposed to carry the consignment from Gurpinder’s godown in Amritsar. The truck owner, Jasbir Singh, was arrested on Friday who informed the customs’ officials that the consignment was to be delivered to one Ranjit Singh at Ram Tirath village.
Police take Gurpinder on four-day remand
Senior superintendent of police (SSP-rural) Vikramjit Singh Duggal said they have got four-day remand of Gurpinder from a duty magistrate on Sunday. ‘We will try to find how many consignments had he cleared earlier,’ he said.
Earlier, the rural-police had taken Tariq on four-day remand on Thursday.
On Tariq’s information, police had rounded up another Amritsar-based importer Ajay Gupta. Police had also established that Jasbir used to carry consignments from Gupta’s gowdown.
Jasbir on Saturday was sent to judicial custody. The SSP said they will approach a court on Monday for seeking Jasbir’s remand.
