Amritsar: Supreme Court turns down bail plea of drug kingpin

The Supreme Court has rejected the bail plea of Harmanjeet Singh Sandhu, who is allegedly involved in large-scale cross-border heroin trafficking in Punjab and supply of drugs outside the state in coordination with Pakistan-based smugglers.

During the hearing, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) told the Supreme Court that Sandhu was allegedly operating a major heroin trafficking network in Punjab.

Around 12 members of his alleged network had already been arrested, the agency submitted.

According to the NCB, Sandhu has been on the run for the past six months and its teams have conducted raids at several locations in an effort to arrest him.

With the accused evading arrest, the agency had declared a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to his arrest and issued a proclamation against him around three months ago.

Recently, the NCB also tightened the financial noose around the alleged drug kingpin. In three separate actions carried out at different times, the agency froze two cars, 93 kanals of land at Burj village of Tarn Taran and a residential property allegedly belonging to him.

A probe into the alleged drug network has led to the arrest of several accused persons and the seizure of 8.740 kg of heroin, 5.540 kg of ice drug (methamphetamine) and more than 3 kg of opium earlier this year.

Investigators are now probing his alleged links with Pakistan-based smugglers and the network used to transport heroin and other drugs within Punjab and to destinations outside the state.