15 drug lords lose properties worth Rs 7.25 crore

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Ludhiana, July 6

In what appears to be a major blow to drug lords, as many as 15 most notorious smugglers booked by the Khanna police have lost their properties worth over Rs 7.25 crore.

The district police have already forfeited the illegally acquired properties by the 15 drug lords valued over Rs 7.25 crore. However, one case with a proposal to forfeit property worth Rs 1.4 crore has been rejected by the competent authority for technical reasons.

The forfeiture of the illegally acquired properties by the drug lords was done under the provisions of the Chapter V-A under Section 68-F of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The development assumes significance as Ludhiana, under which Khanna falls, which was earlier famous for all good reasons and popularly known as Manchester of India, had recently attained the dubious distinction of being the hotspot for illegal drug trade.

The recent disclosure by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had further put the district under focus for being the hub of an international drug syndicate linked to Punjab, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The NCB’s drug bust holds credence as cases registered under various provisions of the NDPS Act, accused arrested and recoveries of contraband and intoxicant substances have also increased manifold in the state’s industrial and business capital.

Khanna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amneet Kondal told The Tribune here on Saturday that the foolproof prosecution cases had led to the conviction of 15 drug lords, whose properties had been forfeited while cases of the remaining smugglers, whose assets have also been seized, were under trial and in the advanced stage of decision.

She said the district police had been waging a war on drugs and all-out efforts were being made to catch the smugglers involved in the illegal trade, recover the contraband and, in turn, prevent narcotics-related offences.

“A total of 16 cases for forfeiture of properties worth Rs 8.65 crore illegally acquired by the drug lords had been sent to the competent authority in the past one year, of which 15 cases had been approved with assets amounting to over Rs 7.25 crore forfeited while one case to forfeit properties worth Rs 1.4 crore had been rejected for technical reasons,” the SSP revealed while stating that the rejected case was being examined afresh.

Property forfeiture a deterrent: CP

“We have adopted a zero tolerance approach against those involved in the illegal trade of drugs while targeting the big fish under our sustained offensive against the menace. The forfeiture of properties illegally acquired by drug smugglers will act as a deterrent and will continue in future as well,” said Amneet Kondal, SSP, Khanna

The losers

The convicted drug lords, whose properties have been forfeited, included Tirath Singh of Maloud who had lost property worth Rs 5.54 lakh, Jagdev Singh of Machhiwara Rs 73 lakh, Jasdev Singh of Machhiwara Rs 1.75 crore, Amritpal Singh of Samrala Rs 1.14 crore, Gurjeet Singh of Samrala Rs 10.07 lakh, Amanjot Kaur of Samrala Rs 82.72 lakh, Jasvir Singh of Samrala Rs 16.39 lakh, Inderjit Singh of Khanna Rs 70.4 lakh, Amrish Thapar of Khanna Rs 17.72 lakh, Simranjit Singh of Khanna Rs 27.32 lakh, Baljinder Singh of Machhiwara Rs 6 lakh, Sohan Singh of Samrala Rs 18.03 lakh, Sukhpal Singh of Samrala Rs 29.95 lakh, Gurdewak Singh of Morinda Rs 18.1 lakh and Jagbir Singh of Jalandhar had lost his assets valued at over Rs 61.61 lakh following his conviction in the NDPS case.

Samrala hotspot

If areas where the drug lords, whose illegally acquired properties have been forfeited, are taken into consideration, Samrala has emerged as a hotspot with a maximum of six of the total 15 cases registered there. While Machhiwara and Khanna had registered three cases each, one case each was from Maloud, Morinda and Jalandhar.

Lone woman

Amanjot Kaur, alias Soni, was the lone woman drug smuggler among 15 drug lords, whose illegally acquired properties have been forfeited by the Khanna police. She was booked under the NDPS Act at the Samrala police station in 2023 and has since been convicted as well.

15 of 16 cases approved

The Khanna police had sent proposals to forfeit illegally acquired properties of 16 drug lords under Chapter V-A under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act to the competent authority, of which 15 cases had been approved while one case had been rejected.