AMRITSAR: In a major strike against cross-border narco-smuggling amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Commissionerate Police Amritsar busted a well-organised heroin trafficking cartel with direct links to Pakistan-based smugglers and arrested four smugglers including a juvenile after recovering 6.1 kg heroin from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.
Those arrested have been identified as Sarbjit Singh alias Joban (29) of Village Dhanoa in Amritsar, Dharam Singh alias Happy (32) and Kulbir Singh alias Gurdeep Singh alias Thomas (24), both residents of Ajnala in Amritsar and 17-years-old juvenile. Apart from recovering heroin, police teams have also impounded their two motorcycles, they were using to deliver the drug consignments.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the key accused Sarbjit alias Joban, operating from a border-area village, was in direct contact with notorious smuggler Rana across the border. He is arrested along with a juvenile, with 1 Kg heroin recovered from them, he said.
The DGP said that the interrogation of duo arrested led to the arrest of two more smugglers — Dharam Singh and Kulbir Singh — from Ajnala and over 5 Kg heroin seized from their possession.
Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that arrested smuggler Sarbjit alias joban used to retrieved the consignments from the locations provided to him by the Pak-based smugglers, who were using drones to deliver the consignments. Upon interrogation, accused Sarbjit disclosed that he used to deliver 4-5 kgs of Heroin in single consignment and has also delivered weapon consignments, he said.
The CP said that probe has also revealed that the arrested Juvenile was also in direct contact with PAK-based smuggler Rana. Further investigation is on to establish forward and backward linkages in this case, he said.