The Gurdaspur police have busted a Jammu and Kashmir-linked narco module being operated from the United States (US) with the arrest of three of its members, including a woman, in Paniar village.
With the arrest of the accused, the police have recovered 18-kg heroin from their car in which they were travelling from Srinagar to Amritsar.
The accused have been identified as Vikramjit Singh, alias Vicky, and Sandeep Kaur, alias Harman, of Sangrur, and Kuldeep Singh, alias Kala, of Mansa.
Gurdaspur senior superintendent of police Harish Dayama said their preliminary investigation has found that the arrested accused had been in contact with one Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal, presently living in the US, for the smuggling of heroin from J&K to Punjab.
The SSP said, “A team comprising assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Aditya S Warrier and deputy superintendent of police (DSP-NDPS) Sukhpal Singh had stopped a Swift Dzire car (PB-31-1679) near the Paniar Sugar Mill. During checking, 18 packets of heroin were found lying under the car seats.”
He said, “During questioning, the accused told us that the heroin was kept inside their car by an unidentified aide of Mandeep during their stay in Srinagar.”
{{/usCountry}}He said, “During questioning, the accused told us that the heroin was kept inside their car by an unidentified aide of Mandeep during their stay in Srinagar.”
{{/usCountry}}A case under Sections 21-C and 25-61-85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the arrested accused at Dinanagar police station.
Meanwhile, a senior police official, who wished not to be named, said, “The accused have told us that the consignment was to be smuggled to Amritsar.” This was not their first attempt of smuggling and they had earlier smuggled four to five consignments from J&K to Amritsar and Tarn Taran areas.”
He said, “The packets bear ‘999’ mark, suggesting that the heroin might be smuggled from Pakistan. Earlier too, such packets with similar marking were recovered and the investigation found that they were smuggled from Pakistan.”
The official, who is also a part of the investigation, said the accused woman, who is married and friend of Vicky, had recently returned from Croatia. She was hired in the module to deceive the police from checking.
The SSP said their investigation to find if the heroin was smuggled from Pakistan was still on. According to police, accused Kala is already facing two criminal cases.
Earlier in June, the Gurdaspur police busted a module linked to J&K and recovered ₹40 lakh drug money from five members of the group.
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