Gang of interstate drug peddlers busted, 2 held

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 15

The Jalandhar (rural) police on Sunday busted a gang of interstate drug smugglers with the arrests of two persons, including a woman, with 5.60 quintals of poppy husk smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jalandhar (Rural), Navjot Singh Mahal, said the police had got a tip-off that a gang was operating in the region and it had been supplying poppy husk to people in the district after smuggling the same from Jammu and Kashmir.

He said during a checking at Kabulpur village, a Tata Indigo car was stopped by them. It was being driven by Baljit Singh of Haripur village whereas Sukhbir Kaur, who is in her 40s, a resident of Adampur was accompanying him.

Mahal said during the search of the car in the presence of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Digvijay Kapil, the police recovered two sacks of poppy husk.

The SSP said during the preliminary investigation, Sukhbir revealed that Baljit was a caretaker of a house of an NRI in Sukha Colony, Adampur, where they had concealed the remaining consignment of poppy husk.

The SSP said the police also raided the house from where 26 sacks of poppy husk were recovered. With this, a total of 28 sacks containing five quintals of poppy husk were recovered from the accused.

Two FIRs under Section 15 of the NDPS Act were already registered against Sukhbir in Adampur police station.

He said during the investigation, Sukhbir had revealed that she was in the business for the past 12-13 years, adding that she, along with her accomplice Baljit, used to bring consignments of poppy husk from Jammu and Kashmir.

The police said both the accused used to conceal the drugs in the house where Baljit was working as a caretaker and later sell it to their customers.

The SSP said further investigation in the case was on.