Juvenile, man arrested in cross-border drug smuggling case

A juvenile among two persons were arrested in a cross border drug smuggling cartel leading to the seizure of 8.3kg of heroin and Rs 2 lakh of alleged drug proceeds from their possession. Apart from the juvenile, the Amritsar city police have arrested Lovepreet Singh alias Love (28), a resident of Khasa village in Amritsar rural in the case.

Police said the breakthrough came during the investigation of two separate NDPS Act cases registered at Chheharta and Islamabad police stations here. Acting on specific intelligence, police teams first arrested Lovepreet and the juvenile, recovering 2 kg of heroin from their possession.

During sustained interrogation and on the disclosure made by the juvenile, police recovered another 3.01 kg of heroin along with Rs 2 lakh cash, suspected to be proceeds of drug trafficking, taking the recovery in the case to 5.01 kg.

Further investigation led police to another cross-border smuggling module allegedly being operated by the same Pakistan-based handler. Acting on fresh intelligence, police teams carried out a targeted operation and recovered an additional 3.368 kg of heroin, taking the total seizure to 8.378 kg.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the investigations revealed that the accused were in direct contact with Pakistan-based smugglers who allegedly used drones to send narcotics consignments across the International Border. The accused used to collect the consignments and distribute them to different locations in Punjab.

The police said the accused were independently linked to Pakistan-based smugglers through separate channels while remaining in contact with each other as part of the wider narcotics supply chain. Both are residents of villages close to the international border, indicating their strategic role in facilitating cross-border drug trafficking.

Police have identified and nominated two more accused in the case. Efforts are underway to arrest them and dismantle the entire cross-border smuggling network, said the police commissioner. Separate cases under the NDPS Act have been registered and further investigation is in progress, he said.