E-Paper
Drug smuggler Billa Havellian detained under PIT-NDPS Act, sent to Assam jail
Invoking the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act for the first time in Punjab, the police, in a joint operation with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), took notorious drug smuggler Balwinder Singh, alias Billa Sarpanch, alias Billa Havellian, into preventive custody and sent him to Dibrugarh Jail, Assam.
Invoking the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act for the first time in Punjab, the police, in a joint operation with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), took notorious drug smuggler Balwinder Singh, alias Billa Sarpanch, alias Billa Havellian, into preventive custody and sent him to Dibrugarh Jail, Assam.
The PIT-NDPS Act, 1988, provides for preventive detention of repeat offenders.
Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said that Billa was involved in trans-border drug smuggling and has been detained under Section 3(1) of PIT-NDPS. He will be held in Dibrugarh jail, where NSA detainees, including Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh and his aides, are lodged.
Billa allegedly has deep-rooted connections with drug syndicates in Pakistan and sending him to Dibrugarh is an attempt to break the jail-based drug mafia link in the region, the NCB said in a press release.
A native of Havelian village in Tarn Taran, he has been involved in narcotics trafficking since 1992 and faces over 15 criminal cases, most of which are related to NDPS and Arms Act.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP, Amritsar Rural) Charanjit Singh said that following a tip-off about Billa’s presence in Gurdaspur city, police and NCB teams got into action and nabbed him.
Sources said the NCB had built a case seeking Billa’s preventive custody and sent it to the Union home secretary, Punjab, last year for approval.
Punjab gave nod to PIT-NDPS a year ago
The Punjab government, led by chief minister Bhagwant Mann, had given a go-ahead to implement the PIT-NDPS on January 24 last year after a strong perusal of the case by the Punjab DGP.
While Section 3 of the Act empowers the government to detain people engaging in illicit trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, Section 9 provides for constitution of an advisory board for looking into grievances of those being taken into custody. In each case, where the advisory board reports that there is no sufficient cause for detention, the government is required to revoke the detention order and release the person concerned. In keeping with the provisions, the Punjab Police had earlier last year reconstituted a three-member advisory committee headed by Justice Shabihul Hasnain (retd) with advocates Suveer Sheokand and Divanshu Jain as its members.
Notably, Punjab government has sent around 60 proposals to the home department for taking drug smugglers and their conduits into preventive custody, but so far, none have been cleared. The Narcotics Bureau too had sent three such proposals, involving big drug lords, around six months ago, but the home department has put it in cold storage.
Who is Billa Havellian?
Billa Havellian had come into spotlight in 2019 when customs authorities at the ICP Attari seized 532 kg heroin and 52 kg mixed narcotic powder disguised as rock salt. The probe had led them to Havellian village. However, he has been a recurring figure in drug smuggling circles since 1992 and has deep-rooted connections with drug syndicates in Pakistan. Currently, he is under trial in three NDPS cases and has been named in seven additional cases since 1992. His criminal record also includes six other cases involving attempt-to-murder and Arms Act.
