In its biggest drug seizure so far, the Jalandhar commissionerate police on Monday recovered 48kg heroin and arrested three members of a family linked with an international syndicate.
The police also confiscated ₹21 lakh of drug money, a cash-counting machine and three high-end vehicles from the accused.
Also read: Congress fields Warring from Ludhiana, Randhawa from Gurdaspur
State director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the syndicate’s tentacles are spread across Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan and Canada alongside a domestic network in Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat besides Punjab.
“The 48-kg heroin confiscated by Jalandhar commissionerate police was smuggled via Gujarat sea-route and J&K land-route. Turkey-based Navpreet Singh from Beas in Amritsar is the main handler of this drug syndicate,” the DGP said.
Yadav said that Navpreet was also involved in the 350-kg heroin seizure made by Delhi Police in 2021. “Investigation is on to uncover forward and backward linkages of the gang,” he said.
“Efforts are afoot to arrest the kingpin, Navpreet Singh. More recovery of heroin is expected in the coming days. This is the biggest haul of drugs ever recovered by the Jalandhar commissionerate police,” Jalandhar commisioner of police Swapan Sharma said.
Contraband was to be smuggled to Canada
{{/usCountry}}Contraband was to be smuggled to Canada
{{/usCountry}}The three accused arrested were identified as Satnam Singh of Dhandiyan village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, his daughter Aman Rozi and son-in-law Hardeep Singh.
Acting on a tip-off, the police carried out checking in Jalandhar during which a Toyota Innova (PB08-DS-2958) was stopped near the Y-point at Bhagat Singh Colony bypass. “The driver, Satnam Singh, attempted to flee but the police managed to stop the Innova. A search of the vehicle was conducted and 8kg of heroin was found hidden in a bag,” Sharma said.
During interrogation, it came into light that his daughter and son-in-law were also a part of the drug network. They were arrested from the Nakodar-Jalandhar road, where 40kg of heroin was recovered from them.
A total of ₹21 lakh of drug money, the Toyota Innova, a Mahindra XUV and a Hyundai Verna along with a cash-counting machine were confiscated.
“During interrogation, the accused confessed that the 8kg of heroin recovered from Satnam’s vehicle was smuggled through the land route from Jammu and Kashmir, while the 40kg was brought into the country by sea routes in Gujarat. The confiscated heroin bore purity mark and was smuggled from Peshawar in Pakistan. The accused were to hand over the heroin to their drug lords based in Punjab to be smuggled into Canada and the other countries,” Sharma said.
Established smuggling links in jail
He said Satnam Singh was involved in a drug-related case in 2017, leading to his contact with a larger drug network while jailed in Hoshiarpur.
“After securing bail, he connected with major drug kingpins and began ordering heroin in large quantities. Manjit Singh, another son of Satnam Singh, was arrested with 5kg of heroin by Jammu and Kashmir Police in 2023. Despite the arrest, Satnam involved his daughter Aman Rozi and son-in-law Hardeep Singh in delivering heroin in various districts of Punjab. They were using multiple vehicles for transporting the drugs for the past one-and-a-half years,” Sharma said.
Satnam’s daughter maintained meticulous financial records of the transactions.