2 held with 12-kg heroin, ₹19L drug money in Gurdaspur
The SSP said, “The accused disclosed that they were being operated by a US-based man, on whose directions they had collected the consignment. However, our investigation to ascertain the fact is still on.”
A US-linked cross-border drug smuggling module was busted with the arrest of two of its members during a joint operation of Punjab Police and Border Security Force (BSF) in Chaura village of Gurdaspur district on Sunday.
With the arrest of the accused, 12 kg of heroin smuggled via drone from Pakistan, ₹19.30 lakh drug money and a motorcycle were also recovered.
The police have identified the accused as Jagpreet Singh and Surinder Singh — both in their 20s — of Allar Pindi village in Gurdaspur.
Deputy inspector general (DIG), border range, Amritsar, Narinder Bhargav said, “On the basis of an alert issued regarding the smuggling of drugs using drones from across the border, we stationed our teams jointly with the BSF and village defence committees (VDCs) at almost all sensitive locations near the border under our Drone Emergency Response System (DERS). One of our joint teams heard a buzzing sound near Chaura village on Sunday.”
He said, “The joint team, as per the laid down guidelines under the DERS, immediately cordoned off the area and noticed the suspicious movement of three persons on a bike. After seeing the joint team, the suspects tried to escape. However, our team apprehended two of them while the third one managed to escape. The two apprehended men were found to be in possession of 12 packets of heroin smuggled via drone.”
Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harish Dayama said after preliminary questioning of the arrested persons, ₹19.30-lakh drug money was recovered. “As per the probe, it was not their first attempt of smuggling. Our investigation to ascertain their links is still on,” he said.
The SSP said, “The accused disclosed that they were being operated by a US-based man, on whose directions they had collected the consignment. However, our investigation to ascertain the fact is still on.”
A senior police official, privy to the investigation, said, “The arrested persons’ links with Pakistan smugglers is also being probed.”
The police have registered a case under various sections of the NDPS Act. The drug seizure comes a day before Union home minister Amit Shah’s Amritsar visit.
