Amritsar: STF busts interstate intoxicant smuggling racket, 5 arrested

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 29

With the arrest of five persons, the Special Task Force, the anti-drug wing of the Punjab Police, claimed to have busted an interstate racket of banned drugs.

The team also seized over 13.28 lakh intoxicants during a month-long operation across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand. It has arrested five persons in this connection while more arrests are likely to be made during the further course of investigation.

13L sedative pills, Rs 2.3L drug money seized

• The Special Task Force has seized over 13.28 lakh intoxicants during a month-long operation across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh & Uttrakhand
• The police have also confiscated Rs 2.37 lakh alleged drug money, two cars and three mobile phones from the possession of the accused
• The arrested accused include Sukhwinder Singh Dhami of Kot Mohammad Khan village in Goindwal Sahib in Tarn Taran, Jaspreet Singh (alias Jass) of Sultanwind Road , and Jagroop Singh (aka Jagga) of Dhanoe Khurd village in Gharinda
• Besides, Alex Dhaliwal of Saharanpur (UP) and Intezar Salmani of Dehradun have also been nabbed in this connection
• More suspects are likely to be arrested during the further course of investigation

The arrested accused were identified as Sukhwinder Singh Dhami of Kot Mohammad Khan village in Goindwal Sahib in Tarn Taran, Jaspreet Singh (alias Jass) of Sultanwind Road , Jagroop Singh (aka Jagga) of Dhanoe Khurd village in Gharinda, Alex Dhaliwal of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Intezar Salmani of Dehradun in Uttrakhand.

Vishaljit Singh, Assistant Inspector General of STF, Border Range here, said on February 20, the STF arrested Sukhwinder Dhami and Jaspreet Singh from Beas River Bridge and confiscated 4 lakh tablets of sedative pills, including Tramadol, from their possession. On the same day, the police also seized 24,000 intoxicants from Dhami’s residence in Tarn Taran.

During interrogation, the duo told the police about their backward linkages and Alex Dhaliwal’s name cropped up. He was later arrested from the Ambala-Saharanpur road after the team laid a trap in the area. Information shared by him further led to the seizure of over nine lakh intoxicant tablets and capsules. His questioning led the police to Dehradun resident Intezar Salmani, who was living in New Deol Nagar in Jalandhar.

“The police have also confiscated Rs 2.37 lakh alleged drug money, besides two cars and three mobile phones from their possession. The mobile phones were sent for forensic examination,” said Vishaljit.

STF DSP Vavinder Mahajan said the police teams were carrying out raids to arrest other accomplices who were part of the racket. He said more arrests were likely to be made during further investigation.

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