Nurpur cops arrest drug racket kingpin

The local police have achieved a breakthrough in smashing a suspected inter-state drug peddling racket by arresting the kingpin from Chandigarh last evening. A team of Nurpur police station arrested Shubhkaran, a resident of Samkehar village in neighbouring Jawali Assembly constituency.

As per information, the police had earlier intercepted an Alto car with temporary number (T1025-HP-1132) at a special naka on the interstate border at Kandwal and arrested three persons with 6.044-kg ‘charas’.

Those arrested were identified as Anu Kumar, Suresh Kumar and Ram Lal hailing from Paddar tehsil of Mandi district. A case under Sections 20, 29 of the NDPS Act was registered against them after the recovery of contraband from their possession. The trio had been sent to judicial custody.

It is pertinent to mention that the Paddar area in Mandi district is known as a hotspot of cannabis cultivation.

Nurpur DSP Chander Pal Singh, who has been investigating the drug racket, said today that after interrogation of three accused, the police got a lead and arrested kingpin Shubhkaran from Chandigarh on Saturday.

The DSP said preliminary investigation revealed that Shubhkaran had established a drug smuggling network. The trio came in his contact and were on their way to deliver cannabis to the other drug peddlers from Mandi district when they were intercepted in the Nurpur area. “Shubhkaran is a habitual drug peddler and two FIRs were registered against him in the past — one with Jawali police station in January 2023 after recovery of 780-gm cannabis and second with Kangra police station in March, 2024 after recovery of 1.943-kg cannabis from this possession,” the DSP added.