Punjab police seize 17 kg heroin being smuggled from JK
Chandigarh: Punjab police on Thursday seized around 17 kg heroin with a street value of Rs 85 crore being allegedly smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir to Amritsar, officials said.
Police arrested the drug peddler, Ranjit Singh alias Sonu, from Madhopur in Pathankot district, along with an SUV.
The accused, a resident of Shaheed Udham Singh Colony Amritsar, was using two specially designed and fabricated compartments fitted underneath the SUV to smuggle the consignment, said Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta.
Police teams have successfully intercepted the Innova car being driven by Sonu in Madhopur and recovered 16 packets of heroin, weighing 16.87 kg, concealed inside specially designed cavities beneath the vehicle, he said.
Sonu told police that he picked this consignment from Naushera area of J&K on the instructions of Ranjit Singh alias Rana of Patti in Tarn Taran (currently lodged in Faridkot Jail) and Malkeet Singh alias Laddu (lodged in Sri Muktsar Sahib Jail), the DGP said, adding Rana is the kingpin of this racket.
The development came 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 41 kg, from the area of Panjgraian Border Outpost (BOP) of Amritsar.
Since January 1 this year till now, Punjab Police have recovered around 400 kg heroin, 4 kg smack, 6 kg cocaine, besides recovering over 98,000 injections and 1.44 crore intoxicant pills or capsules, a state police statement said.
Following the input, that Sonu was on the way to Amritsar via Pathankot, SSP Amritsar (Rural) Gulneet Singh Khurana immediately constituted special teams under the supervision of Additional SP Majitha Abhimanyu Rana and DSP, Detective, Amritsar Rural, Gurinder Pal Nagra to nab him, the DGP said.
Notably, Punjab Police had on July 5 busted a major drug supply chain with the arrest of four Afghan nationals and heroin seizure of 17 kgs, worth Rs 90 crore in the international market, from a unit in south Delhi.
Press Trust of India
