Amritsar man held with 17-kg heroin in Pathankot

During preliminary interrogation, the accused has revealed that he had picked up the contraband consignment from Naushera area of J&K on the instructions of Ranjit Singh, alias Rana, of Patti in Tarn Taran (currently in Faridkot jail)

Amritsar Police have arrested a local resident, Ranjit Singh, alias Sonu, of Shaheed Udham Singh Colony, for smuggling 17-kg heroin from Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab on Thursday morning. The contraband was concealed in two specially-designed and fabricated compartments placed in the bottom floor of the vehicle, an Innova cab with registration number PB01A6708. The arrest was made from Madhopur in Pathankot district, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said.

The contraband was concealed in two specially-designed and fabricated compartments placed in the bottom floor of the vehicle, an Innova cab. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The arrest comes few days after the Amritsar Rural Police foiled a major drug smuggling bid by Pakistan-based smugglers by recovering 39 packets of heroin, weighing around 41kg, from Panjgraian Border Outpost (BoP) area of Amritsar.

The DGP added following an input that Sonu was on the way to Amritsar via Pathankot, SSP Amritsar (rural) Gulneet Singh Khurana constituted special teams under the supervision of Majitha assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Abhimanyu Rana and DSP, detective, Gurinder Pal Nagra to nab the accused.

“Police teams successfully intercepted the Innova car being driven by Sonu in Madhopur and recovered 16 packets of heroin, weighing 16.9kg, concealed inside specially-designed cavities beneath the vehicle,” the DGP added.

During his preliminary interrogation, Sonu revealed that he had picked up the contraband consignment from Naushera area of J&K on the instructions of Ranjit Singh, alias Rana, of Patti in Tarn Taran (currently in Faridkot Jail) and Malkeet Singh alias Laddu (currently in Sri Muktsar Sahib Jail), the DGP said, adding that Rana was the kingpin of this racket.

A case under Sections 21, 23/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered at Kathunangal police station.

On July 5, this year, had also busted a major drug supply chain with the arrest of four Afghan nationals and heroin seizure of 17kg from an industrial unit in South Delhi. To date, in 2021, the state police have recovered around 400kg heroin, 4kg smack, 6kg cocaine, besides recovering over 98,000 injections and 1.4 crore intoxicant pills/capsules.