12 kg opium smuggling case: Delhi police arrests mastermind from Hoshiarpur

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

Tribune News Service

Hoshiarpur, June 2

A team of the Delhi Police arrested the alleged mastermind of the smuggler gang from Hoshiarpur on the basis of the information given by two Hoshiarpur residen-accused drivers, who were arrested with 12 kg opium worth Rs 2 crore on May 29.

The two accused were nabbed by the police while they were smuggling 6 kg opium each in two cars, which they had brought from Hajaribagh district in Jharkhand while returning from there after dropping migrant labourers in Jharkhand.

The two drivers belonging to Hoshiarpur were arrested by Delhi Police on May 29 with 12 kg of opium worth about Rs 2 crore. The arrested accused were identified as Chetan Patial, a resident of Patial village, and Shaan Masih, a resident of Bassi Bahian village.

A case was registered in this regard at Lodhi Colony police station in Delhi under the NDPS Act. The accused had 6 kg of opium each, which were recovered from their two vehicles.

During interrogation, the accused had told the police that they used to work for transporter Gurmeet Singh alias Ladi, who lived in Vijay Nagar in Hoshiarpur, Punjab.

Ladi used to get inter-state passes issued for them to ferry migrant labourers to Jharkhand. After leaving the migrant labourers there, they used to bring opium from Hazaribagh district to supply to Delhi and Hoshiarpur.

The police had registered a case against all three.

On Tuesday evening, Hoshiarpur SSP Gaurav Garg told The Tribune that Delhi Police raided Hoshiarpur on Tuesday.

During the raid, the transporter, Gurmeet Singh alias Ladi, who runs a taxi stand in Kamalpur area of the city, was arrested. The special team from Delhi arrested Ladi and took him to Delhi after getting his medical examination done at the local Civil Hospital.