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Drug cartel being run from inside Faridkot jail busted; 7 held with 15kg heroin
Police, recover ₹7 lakh drug money, say the module was being operated by Jaspreet Singh alias Kali of Moga from Faridkot Jail using WhatsApp
Police on Saturday claimed to have busted a drone-based cross-border drug smuggling module being operated from inside Faridkot Jail with the arrest of seven persons — including three delivery agents and four receivers.
Police said they have recovered 15kg of heroin and ₹7 lakh drug money from their possession.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurpinder Singh alias Bhinda, Narinder Singh and Ranjodh Singh alias Jodha, all residents of village Haruwal in Gurdaspur, and Rajdeep Singh, Ram Singh, Jaspal Singh, Rajwinder Kaur, all residents of Ferozepur. Apart from heroin and drug money, police teams have also impounded two cars.
Punjab director general of police Gaurav Yadav said that the counter-intelligence wing, Amritsar, received an input that Gurpinder Bhinda, Narinder and Ranjodh Jodha had recently retrieved a heroin consignment from the area of Haruwal village, which was sent by Pakistan-based smugglers using drones and are expected to deliver it a party in Amritsar.
Yadav said that acting on the information, the operation team of counter-intelligence, Amritsar, arrested a trio from the Haruwal area of Gurdaspur and recovered 15kg of heroin from their possession. The consignment was delivered in six sorties, with each packet carrying 2.5kg heroin, he added.
“Investigations have revealed that the mastermind Jaspreet Singh alias Kali of Moga, who is currently lodged in Faridkot Jail, was in touch with Pakistan-based drug smugglers via WhatsApp and was managing this drug cartel from the jail,” the DGP said, adding that the police will soon bring him on production warrant for further investigations.
Sharing more details, a police official, on the condition of anonymity, said that during the investigation, accused Gurpinder Bhinda revealed that accused Jaspreet Kali was expected to send a party to collect the consignment from a parking lot near the Town Hall in Amritsar city.
He said police laid a nakabandi (blockade) near the parking and arrested the remaining four accused persons, who came to pick up the consignment. Cops recovered ₹7 lakh of drug money and two cars from the accused possession, he added.
A case FIR No. 28, dated September 1, has been registered under sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.
