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Cross-border arms, drug smuggling racket busted in Amritsar, eight arrested
The Amritsar city police on Thursday busted a cross-border arms, drug smuggling and hawala racket with the arrest of eight persons, officials said.
AMRITSAR : The Amritsar city police on Thursday busted a cross-border arms, drug smuggling and hawala racket with the arrest of eight persons, officials said.
The police also recovered 4-kg heroin, besides arms and ammunition and drug money.
The accused have been identified as Rajinder Raja, Abhishek, alias Abhi, Ranjit, alias Kaka, Vishal, alias Shah, Lovepreet, alias Kalu, Gurbhej, alias Bheja, Gurjant and Jaspal. While Kaka, kingpin of the racket having cross-border nexus, is a resident of Chheharta
in Amritsar, all the accused hail from the border areas of the district, said commissioner of police Ranjit Singh Dhillon.
Addressing a press conference, Dhillon said, a Turkish Zigana pistol, 0.32-bore pistol, 45 live cartridges, over ₹2 lakh drug money and seven vehicles have been recovered from the accused. Two FIRs have been registered at Islamabad and Chheharta police stations, he added.
“The operation started with the arrest of Raja, wanted by the Amritsar rural police in another FIR, and Abhi,” Dhillon said.
The police recovered 0.5 kg heroin, ₹40,000 drug money, Verna car and a pistol from their possession. Their involvement in the drug trade was traced to kingpin Kaka, the police commissioner said.
After follow-up and technical investigation, Kaka, and other accused — Lovepreet, Vishal, and Gurbhej — were nabbed, with further recovery of smuggled firearms and live cartridges,” he said.
Following a financial trail, vehicles bought with drug money were recovered, he said.
Dhillon added: “The kingpin in a nexus with Pakistan-based entities was running heroin and illegal weapons racket in Punjab and further fuelling hawala nexus and re-routing to Pakistan.”
