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Cross-border drug cartel busted: 3 held with 4kg ICE, 1kg heroin in Amritsar
Apart from recovering contraband, Amritsar police have also recovered ₹2,500 in drug money and impounded one car and a scooter
Amritsar police have dismantled an organised cross-border drug cartels linked to foreign-based handlers with the arrest of three operatives and recovered 4.083kg of Methamphetamine, commonly known as ICE, and 1.032kg of heroin from their possession, director general of police Gaurav Yadav said here on Wednesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Balwinder Singh alias Binder (25), a resident of Daoke village in Amritsar; Navtej Singh (33), a native of Mahwa village in Amritsar and currently residing at a village in Tarn Taran and Mahabir Singh (32), a resident of Kaaliya Sakataran village in Tarn Taran.
Apart from recovering contraband, police teams have also recovered ₹2,500 in drug money and impounded one car and a scooter.
Yadav said that the preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested persons were coordinating with the smugglers in Pakistan and abroad using WhatsApp. Further investigation is ongoing to trace backwards and forward linkages of the network, he said.
Amritsar commissioner of police (CP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the police had arrested suspect Balwinder Singh alias Binder with 35gm of ICE from his possession, and during interrogation, the latter revealed his links with a Pakistan-based trafficker, who shared drop locations through WhatsApp. Acting on the accused’s disclosures, police recovered 2.042 kg of ICE drug, bringing the total recovery from him to 2.077 kg from his possession, he said.
He said that in a parallel operation, police intercepted suspect Navtej Singh with 40 gm of ICE drug. Further investigation revealed that the latter had previously worked in Doha, Qatar, where he connected with a handler there, he said, while adding that this handler later shifted operations to India through WhatsApp-based instructions.
Probe has revealed that Navtej had worked as a ground courier, retrieving drug packets and supplying them further. Based on his disclosures, police recovered an additional 1.966kg of ICE, bringing the total recovered to 2.006 kg.
The CP said that in a third interception, police arrested Mahabir Singh with 1.032 kg of heroin from his possession. Investigations uncovered that the latter was receiving consignments from a Pakistan-based smuggler using drone drops, indicating an advanced method of cross-border narcotics transport.
Three separate cases under sections 21-C, 29, 22-B and 22-C of the NDPS Act have been registered at police stations in Hakima and Chheharta.
