Drug trafficking network operating from Punjab jails busted

Amritsar, October 18

Officials of the border range Special Task Force (STF) today claimed to have busted a drug network being operated from state jails with the arrest of six drug dealers and recovery of 12-kg heroin in the last few days.

Video of inmates goes viral

A video of inmates allegedly consuming drugs inside the Amritsar jail went viral on social media

Jail Minister Harjot Bains said if involvement of police personnel come to the fore, they would not be spared

Two die of ‘overdose’

Hargun and Rohan (brothers) residing in Katra Baghian in Amritsar allegedly died of drug overdose on Tuesday

Hargun was nabbed and sent to jail where his health deteriorated. He died during treatment at a hospital

After hearing the news of Hargun’s death, Rohan also reportedly injected drugs and died later

STF Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Rachpal Singh said they got a lead after nabbing a jail warder, Rachpal Singh. The STF had arrested Rachpal with 35-gm heroin, which was to be supplied to two jail inmates — Lovepreet Singh and Gurpreet Singh. Another jail warder, Subeg Singh, was nabbed by the STF with 10.5-gm opium.

A team of STF led by SI Sumit Singh got a tip-off that Sonu Singh of Nihala Kilcha and Gurmukh Singh of Dulchike village in Ferozpur used to supply heroin in Ferozepur, Tarn Taran and other cities of Punjab. The police nabbed Sonu and Gurmukh with 5-kg heroin on October 15. During investigation, Sonu confessed that his cousin Baldev Singh, who is lodged in a Faridkot jail, was operating the drug network.

Sonu and his brother Shammi are already facing a case under the NDPS Act and Arms Act. The police had frozen their property worth Rs 1 crore.

Similarly, STF officer SI Vinod Sharma got a tip-off that Baljinder Singh and Navdeep Singh of Burj Srai Amanat Khan smuggled heroin from Pakistan. The police raided their houses, arrested Baljinder and recovered 5-kg heroin. Navdeep Singh is still absconding.

Following secret information, the cops also recovered 1-kg heroin from Sahmsher Singh and Sandeep Singh of Dhun village in Taran Tarn and another 1-kg heroin from Sukhwinder Singh of Bohru village of Amritsar.