3 held with over 1 kg heroin, Rs 45L drug money

In a major crackdown on the drug nexus, the Amritsar police busted two separate smuggling networks and arrested three persons in this connection. The police recovered 1.01 kg of heroin, Rs 45.19 lakh of alleged drug money and a cash counting machine from them.

Those arrested were identified as Rahul Singh alias Kalu (20) of Thathi Sohal in Tarn Taran, Gurmukh Singh (21) of Sudhar Rajputan village and Varinderpal Singh (32) of Akalgarh Dhaphian village here.

Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav on Saturday said two separate FIRs under the NDPS Act have been registered at the Gate Hakima and Verka police stations and further probe was in progress to trace forward and backward linkages to unearth the entire nexus.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said CIA staff arrested Rahul alias Kalu and recovered 510 grams of heroin and Rs 30.18 lakh of drug money along with a cash counting machine from his rented house at Anand Vihar here.

Initial probe indicated that Rahul was in contact with foreign-based drug smuggler Tony German and was supplying heroin in local areas after receiving the consignments from across the border.

In another operation, the Verka police nabbed Gurmukh Singh and Varinder Pal Singh and recovered 500 grams of heroin, Rs 15.19 lakh of drug money and a camera-fitted toy drone from their possession.

The accused had made a concealed bed-box (secret locker) at a house located in Akalgarh village from where drug money was recovered, he said, adding that accused persons were using the toy drone for practicing so that later they could use a drone for smuggling purpose.