Local wrestler among three arrested with 550-gm heroin

Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 9

The Special Task Force (STF), Mohali, on Tuesday arrested two persons, including a local wrestler, for allegedly possessing 500 gm of heroin.

Rajinder Sohal, SP, STF, said the accused had been identified as Iqbalpreet Singh, a local-level wrestler, and Simarjit Singh, both natives of Bhuchi village, Bassi Pathana in Fatehgarh Sahib. They used to procure heroin from Delhi and supply it in the tricity.

“We had inputs that some drug peddlers were coming from Delhi with heroin to Mohali. A police party, led by ASI Harbhajan Singh and ASI Kamaljit Singh, arrested the two while they were waiting in a car in the parking lot of Mango Garden in the Industrial Area, Phase III, in possession of 500 gm of heroin,” Sohal said.

STF officials said Iqbalpreet had appeared for state-level wrestling trials.

“He was planning to go to Canada and had filed an application for visa,” an STF official said.

Sources said the accused allegedly met a peddler named Mangi at a gym in Fatehgarh and later accompanied Mangi to Delhi for purchasing heroin on two different occasions.

According to the STF, the arrested duo with Mangi and another accomplice, Sonu, had gone to Delhi 3-4 days ago and procured half-kg heroin from a Nigerian national, John. Iqpalpreet and Simarjit then divided the haul equally between themselves.

A case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, at the STF police station in Phase IV.

In another raid, STF arrested Rohit Kumar, a resident of Ambala, and seized 50-gm heroin. Kumar also procured heroin from a Nigerian national in Delhi and sold it to potential customers in the tricity, police said.