5 smugglers held with 1.5-kg heroin, Rs 7.8-lakh drug money in Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 11

The CIA staff of the local police on Saturday arrested an international drug trafficker along with four others and confiscated 1.5-kg heroin from them.

The police also seized Rs7.8 lakh drug money, a cash counting machine and two electronic scales, two illegal weapons and a car from them.

They were identified as international smuggler Harbhej Singh, alias Javed (22), of Loharaka Kalan village; Sunil Masih (21) of Ballarwal village; Lovepreet Singh, aka Happy (26), of Loharka Kalan; Jugal Kishore (30) of Majitha and Vishal (CIA) of Loharka Kalan village.

Police Commissioner Vikram Jeet Duggal said the accused were being produced in court for procuring the police remand for ascertaining their forward and backward links. He said as per the preliminary probe, they had links with two drug peddlers — Narinder Singh of Dhulka village and Rajinder Singh Ganja of Sheikhupura Mohalla in Jandiala Guru area — who are lodged in jails.

Gurbhej Singh had four cases, including that of murder bid and under NDPS Act, against him, while Lovepreet Singh had eight criminal cases, including of murder, theft, robbery and under NDPS Act, against him. Jugal Kishore has three and Vishal has one case against him.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Investigations, Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said Narinder Singh had three cases including two under the NDPS Act against him and was currently lodged in Faridkot jail. Rajinder Ganja had four cases under the NDPS Act in Kapurthala and Mohali districts. He was lodged in Amritsar Central Jail at present.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Harminder Singh Sandhu said Narinder and Rajinder Ganja would also be brought on production warrant in the case for further investigation to ascertain the source of the contraband and weapons seized from the five drug traffickers.

The Police Commissioner said the accused had brought the drug consignment from the outskirts of Patti area in Tarn Taran and were to supply it in different parts of the city.

“We believe that with their arrest, we have managed to break a drug network active in the area,” Duggal said.

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