Cross-border drug smuggling racket busted; 1 held with 6-kg heroin

Police say Pakistan smugglers are exploiting riverine routes to push drugs into Indian territory; ₹1.5 lakh drug money recovered from the possession of the accused

Punjab Police busted a cross-border drug smuggling racket with the arrest of one person after recovering 6-kg heroin and ₹1.5 lakh drug money from his possession, said Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

The seized consignment in Amritsar on Thursday.

The arrested accused has been identified as Shinder Singh of Bute Dian Chhana village in Mehatpur, Jalandhar. The accused is a habitual drug smuggler and is already facing two criminal cases under the NDPS Act.

Yadav said the Amritsar State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) had received a reliable input that accused Shinder Singh and his accomplices had recently procured the huge consignment of heroin pushed into the Indian territory by Pak-based smugglers and agencies using a riverine route in Ferozepur sector, and they are present around Amritsar to deliver the consignment to a party.

“Acting promptly, a special police team of the SSOC launched an operation and cordoned off the area in a planned manner resulting in the arrest of accused Shinder Singh,” he said.

Sharing more details about the preliminary investigations, AIG SSOC Sukhminder Singh Mann said it has come to light that the Pak-based smugglers have exploited a gap — emerged due to floods — in the fencing along the river to smuggle the drug consignment via the riverine route in the Ferozepur sector a few days back.

He said further investigations are being conducted to unearth the entire network of drug suppliers, dealers and their buyers. Efforts are being made to probe their backward and forward links to take the investigations to the logical conclusion by the arrest of remaining members of this group, he added.

A case FIR No. 23 dated August 3, 2023 has been registered under Sections 21, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act and the accused will be produced in a court for police remand in due course.