E-Paper
Six customs officials booked for ‘links’ with international drug cartel
Jalandhar police arrest 9 more drug peddlers in international cartel case, seize 22 kg opium. 6 customs officials also under investigation.
A week after the Jalandhar police commissionerate busted an international cartel smuggling drugs overseas through couriers, police arrested nine more alleged drug peddlers involved in the nexus and recovered 22 kg opium from their possession.
Probe officials have also nominated six customs department officials into the case and initiated a detailed investigation into the case.
Police had on March 3 busted the international drug cartel smuggling drugs to four countries — UK, US, Australia and Canada — through courier agencies and arrested three persons with 5 kg opium.
Sharing details, Jalandhar commissioner of police Swapan Sharma said police have busted the supply chain with the arrest and nomination of all the stakeholders including growers, collectors, suppliers, packers, courier operators, facilitator and end recipients.
“Abhi Ram alias Alex, a resident of Jharkhand, the grower and collector of opium has been arrested with 12 kg opium from Ranchi. Likewise, Money, Pawan and Sikandar of Jalandhar and Balihar of Hoshiarpur have been arrested with 5 kg opium. Three vehicles and packaging material was also recovered from their possession,” Sharma said.
Police added that all four accused have their own courier company and firms that were involved in collection of opium, packaging and sending the courier to customs in Delhi. “These people used to take destination details of the opium packets from five entities based in the UK, US, Australia and Canada,” police said.
Two more accused, identified as Amarjit Kaur and Sunny of Jalandhar, have been arrested as they were involved in moving drug money entering the country through havala routes.
“The vehicles used to transport drug money has also been impounde. Western union operater Amit Shukla from Phagwara has also been arrested as he was involved in the havala transaction where drug money was received from abroad was distributed to the operators in Punjab, Jharkhand and Delhi,” Sharma said.
Sharma said, a Delhi-based accused, Parmod, has been arrested for being in liason with Delhi customs officials. Huge sums of money was paid to the customs officials for clearing every parcel for transportation to foreign countries.
Elaborating on the arrests, Sharma said, “Six customs officers have also been nominated and further investigation into the case is underway. As many as 30 bank accounts, having huge money transfer of ₹9 crore, have been freezed and 12 properties worth ₹6 crore made from precedes of drug money have been identified.”
