Year ender - 2024: STF cracked whip on smugglers

The Special Task Force (STF) cracked the whip on smugglers and recovered a huge quantity of heroin and other drugs from their possession. The value of the recovered drugs was worth several crores.

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This year, the Punjab Government renamed the Special Task Force to the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF).

On February 17, a team of the Special Task Force (STF), Ludhiana range, apprehended two drug smugglers, including a car dealer from Odisha, and recovered 66 kg of opium from their possession. The accused were identified as Gurdev Singh (40) of Odisha and Tejinder Singh Monu (32) of Agwad Dalla in Jagraon. The STF sleuths also impounded the SUV in which they were peddling the contraband.

In a press conference, Snehdeep Sharma, AIG, STF, Ludhiana Range, had stated that they got a tip-off about the accused peddling opium from Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand to Punjab. Following which, the STF team nabbed them in Ludhiana.

On February 21, the STF busted a drug supply chain with the arrest of two accused. They were identified as Shubham Kumar, alias Aman, alias Decklas (23), a resident of Nabha, Patiala, and Honey Kumar (23), a resident of Juneja Colony, Tibba Road. The STF recovered a total of 1.97-kg heroin from their possession. The accused were in contact with drug suppliers through social networking sites and supplied drugs among the addicts.

On April 1, STF sleuths arrested two accused - a bike taxi driver and a trader - and seized 1.95-kg heroin from their possession. The accused used to smuggle the contraband in the guise of a bike taxi rider. They were identified as Kapil Kumar (35) of Shivpuri and Varun Kumar (38) of Sardar Nagar, Basti Jodhewal. Kapil was a wholesale garment trader, while Varun worked as a bike taxi driver.

On November 5, the STF arrested SI Gurmeet Singh, head of its Ludhiana unit. He allegedly illegally detained two drug suspects - Charanjeet Singh and Ranbir Singh, residents of Patiala, - and falsified facts about the opium seizure.

Snehdeep Sharma, AIG, STF, Ludhiana range, had then said that Gurmeet apprehended the drug suspects in Patiala district, illegally confining them overnight. The next day, Gurmeet claimed the arrest and 600 gm of opium recovery was made in Ludhiana.

On November 27, the STF had executed the orders of preventive detention of another top drug smuggler, identified as Gurdeep Singh, alias Raano Sarpanch, a resident of Raano village in Ludhiana, using special provisions under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act. This was the second such case of preventive detention in which orders were issued by the competent authority under Section 3 of the PIT-NDPS Act. Notably, the STF also took several cases to their logical end by ensuring conviction of the nabbed smugglers.