Narco-hawala racket mastermind running cartel for 6 months: Police

Arshdeep Singh, the mastermind behind narco-hawala racket busted by the police yesterday, had developed contacts with smugglers in the jail. He had been orchestrating the cartel for the past around six months.

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In an intelligence-led operation, the city police have dismantled a narco-hawala racket being led by a jail inmate, identified as Arshdeep Singh. He was currently incarcerated at Goindwal jail.

The operation led to the seizure of 4.526 kg of contraband along with Rs 8.7 lakh of drug money and a motorcycle from six persons.

Ravinderpal Singh Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations), said that the accused were currently in police remand and further probe was on. Arshdeep was arrested after bringing him on production warrant from Goindwal Sahib Central Jail.

Among others arrested were Karandeep Singh alias Karan (25), a resident of Algon Khurd in Tarn Taran, Jaspreet Singh (20), a resident of Salodi in Ludhiana, Gurmeet Singh alias Geetu (24), a resident of Sukhera Bodla in Fazilka, Rajinderpal Singh alias Nikka (24), a resident of Kolowal in Amritsar and Malkeet Singh (28), a resident of Hawelian in Tarn Taran.

Director General of Punjab Police, Gaurav Yadav on Tuesday had informed that Arshdeep, in connivance with his associates Jaspreet Singh and Karan, was orchestrating a drug trade and hawala racket while Karan and his two accomplices, Gurmeet and Rajinderpal, were assigned the job of retrieving the consignments from the international border and distribute it further across various districts in Punjab.

The money from the drug trader was then routed through hawala channels to Dubai, UAE and to Pakistan by Jaspreet.

Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said one of the arrested accused, Malkeet Singh, a notorious smuggler, spent a year in Dubai, where he established links with Pakistani smugglers. Given the proximity of his village to the international border, he facilitated the smuggling of consignments directly to his residence upon his return to India two months ago.