Cross-border narcotics smuggling cartels busted, five held: Punjab Police

Punjab Police on Tuesday said it has busted two inter-linked cross-border narcotics smuggling cartels with the arrest of five persons, and recovered more than 7 kg of heroin from their possession. Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the accused have been identified as Deepak Singh alias Deepu (22), a resident of Chheharta, Amritsar; Prince Singh alias Prince, a resident of Kohala village in Amritsar; and Rajinder Singh alias Ghuddu (23), Randeep Singh alias Dil (19) and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi (21) -- residents of Sensra Kalan village in Amritsar. Besides seizing the contraband, police have also impounded a motorcycle allegedly being used for drug trafficking. Investigation revealed that the accused were in contact with a Pakistan-based smuggler, who was sending consignments via drones and coordinating distribution of drugs across the state through local agents, the DGP said. Further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages of the drug smuggling network, he added. Sharing operational details, Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said in an input-based operation, police teams arrested Deepak Singh alias Deepu and recovered around 1.3 kg heroin from his possession. During interrogation, an additional 2.6 kg of heroin was traced and confiscated, taking the total recovery to around 4 kg, he said. He said during further investigation into the Pakistan-based handler, police teams arrested three more accused -- Rajinder alias Ghuddu, Randeep alias Dil and Gurpreet alias Gopi and 1.01 kg heroin from them. On the instance of the arrestee, a fourth associate, Prince Singh alias Prince, was also apprehended and 2 kg of heroin was recovered from his possession, Bhullar added.