Police seize heroin, arms, Rs 33 lakh of hawala money

The special cell of Amritsar rural police arrested three cross-border drug smugglers and hawala operators leading to confiscation of 500 gram of heroin, a 9mm Glock pistol with two magazines and Rs 33 lakh of hawala money from their possession.

Those arrested were identified as Ranjit Singh alias Rana, Gurdev Singh alias Gedi and Shailendra Singh alias Selu.

“In a major crackdown on narco-hawala networks, Amritsar rural police arrested Ranjit Singh alias Rana, Gurdev Singh aka Gedi and Shailendra Singh alias Selu. The accused are involved in cross-border drug trafficking and illegal monetary transactions,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav.

A case was registered at Lopoke police station here and efforts are underway to trace the forward and backward linkages of this cross-border smuggling network, he said.

Meanwhile, the BSF has also seized three packets of heroin which were smuggled from Pakistan via drones. The packets contained a total of 1.666 kg of heroin.

A spokesman for the BSF said that the troops detected a drone intrusion at Amritsar border last night. The jawans acted swiftly, launching an extensive search operation, leading to the recovery of the contraband.

“By 11.10 pm, the troops successfully recovered one packet of suspected heroin. Subsequently, two more packets were recovered in the vicinity of Hashimpura village in Amritsar sector in the morning of April 10. The narcotics was found wrapped in yellow adhesive tape, with one illumination stick and steel ring attached to each packet indicating that they were smuggled via drones,” said BSF authorities.