Tarn Taran has 1,441 drug smugglers; 23 hotspots

Tarn Taran Police have identified 1,441 habitual drug smugglers in the district, of which 310 have been arrested over the past two months

Tarn Taran Police have identified 1,441 habitual drug smugglers in the district, of which 310 have been arrested over the past two months. The district, on the Indo-Pak border, has 166 smugglers in the A and B category.

Amritsar, India – June 26: Punjab Police team destroying a huge quantity of drugs seized during the period of last a few years on the occasion of international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking at Khanna Paper Mills, on June 26, 2021 in Amritsar, India. (Photo by Sameer Sehgal /Hindustan Times) (HT FILE )

Those in category A have connections in Pakistan, while those on the B category list have been arrested multiple times with unjustified commercial quantity of drugs. Many of those who are yet to be arrested have shifted to bigger cities, police have said.

Each individual on the list has two or more cases registered against them under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Some of them are facing 15 cases, with most coming from border villages.

Twenty-three drug hotspots, including Havelian and Mehmoodpura villages, have been identified. Both villages are situated near the India-Pakistan border. While Havelian is a notorious village for drug smuggling where at least one member in almost every house has been facing at least one drug case, Mehmoodpura is the native village of Congress MLA from Khemkaran constituency Sukhpal Singh Bhullar. Ranjit Singh alias Rana alias Cheeta, who is the kingpin in the case pertaining to the seizure of 532-kg heroin haul that was smuggled in a truck from Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border in 2019 also belongs to Havelian village.

“We scanned the record over past 10 years in every police station in the district to zero-in on suspects facing two or more cases under the NDPS Act. The intelligence department, the CID and the Guardians of Governance also gave inputs and names. The initial list has 2,200 names; we took the help of the technical wing to prune the list to 1,441,” said a senior official with the Tarn Taran Police, adding that 310 individuals on the list had been jailed since July 1.

SSP Dhruman H Nimbale said, “We have launched a crackdown against drug smuggling. In order to break and have already identified 560 persons for freezing their assets, accumulated through the drug trade. Property of 111 drug smugglers valued at around ₹130 crore has been attached. We have launched a special operation in the district, under which a gazetted officer leads a team to search residences of suspected drug smugglers.”