Properties of three drug peddlers frozen in Amritsar

The Amritsar (Rural) police have frozen properties worth Rs 1.30 crore belonging to three drug traffickers identified as Swarn Singh of Ladhewal village, and Sewa Singh and Lovepreet Singh of Muhawa border village on Wednesday.

Maninder Singh, SSP, Amritsar (Rural), said Swarn Singh was arrested by the police with 2 kg of heroin last year. He said he owned a residential property at Ladhewal Hawelia village which was worth Rs 62.50 lakh.

Similarly, two residential properties of Sewa Singh and Lovepreet Singh, worth

Rs 37.88 lakh and Rs 29.80 lakh, respectively, were frozen at Muhawa village, the SSP said. Both the accused were arrested by the Gharinda police two years ago with 2.6 kg of contraband, he said.

These properties were identified and evaluated by the competent authority of the country under the NDPS Act, he said. After their approval, the police froze properties, he said. Notices were pasted on the walls of these houses, the SSP said.

He said the Punjab Police were taking stringent measures to deter and discourage drug peddlers from entering the illegal trade. The properties were constructed from the ill-gotten money earned from drug trafficking, he said. The SSP said more properties of drug smugglers were identified and sent for evaluation by the competent authority before approval.