Police recover 15kg heroin consignment linked to Pakistan, US-based drug syndicates, 1 held

Tarn Taran police has arrested a smuggler linked to Pakistan and US-based drug syndicates and recovered 15 kg heroin from his possession here on Monday. The arrested accused has been identified as Harshpreet Singh, a resident of Roranwala in Amritsar. Apart from recovering heroin, police teams have also impounded a scooter, which was being used by the accused for smuggling. The development came a day after the police dismantled a drug trafficking cartel with the arrest of two smugglers and recovered 6 kg heroin from their possession.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the drug consignment is linked to a smuggling network operated by US-based smuggler Gurnam Kallowal, who is in link with Pakistan-based drug smuggler identified as Pahalwan. The latter was using drones to drop the drug consignment from across the border, he added.

He said that probe has also revealed that the arrested accused Harshpreet was retrieving narcotic consignments near the border area to further deliver it to local drug peddlers and was sending payments of drug proceeds through hawala channels on the instructions of his US-based handler. The DGP said further investigations are underway to establish backward and forward linkages in this case.

Sharing operation details, Tarn Taran Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abhimanyu Rana said that following reliable inputs about the smuggling activities of the accused Harshpreet, police teams of CIA under supervision of SP Investigation Ajay Raj, Goindwal Sahib DSP Atul Soni and DSP special crime Gurinder Pal Nagra have launched an intelligence based operation and arrested the accused from the area of Rakh Sarai Amanat Khan, when he was going to deliver the drug consignment.

The SSP said efforts are being made to uncover the entire network of suppliers, dealers and buyers, as well as to ascertain the total quantity of drugs received by the arrested accused. More arrests and recoveries are likely in coming days, he added.

A case has been registered under Sections 21(c) of the NDPS Act at Police Station Sadar, Tarn Taran.