Notorious drug smuggler Amrik Singh arrested month after he escaped from hospital

Aman Sood 

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Patiala, November 3

A notorious drug smuggler having links with terrorists, who had escaped from hospital in October, was arrested on Thursday.

Amrik Singh had escaped from the hospital, where the jail officials had taken him for treatment on October 1.

He faces 12 FIRs in Punjab, including two FIRs involving 8kg heroin each.

“Based on inputs received after the arrest of his seven facilitators, Amrik was nabbed by CIA, Samana,” said Patiala SSP Deepak Pareek. He would be questioned to ascertain the names of those who helped him during the escape, he added.

He is considered a vital link between the cross-border heroin network and local drug dealers, and the Patiala police had been trailing him.

Amrik, a resident of Dedhna village in Patiala, faces at least seven cases under the IPC, NDPS Act and Arms Act. He has been involved in smuggling drugs since 2004. He had got 10 years for smuggling poppy husk.

Documents with The Tribune show that despite being intimated in writing by the police that Amrik could escape during a court hearing or hospital visit, jail officials did not follow the SOPs.

“Following specific intelligence inputs, it is intimated that Amrik Singh can get himself admitted to a hospital on one pretext or the other. During which he can get help from gangsters and escape,” reads a letter sent to the Superintendent, Central Jail, Patiala, on July 29, by the Patiala SSP.

Despite this, the jail officials took Amrik to the hospital with only two jail warders, one of whom was allegedly not with the accused when he escaped.

A show-cause notice was issued to the Patiala Central Jail superintendent and assistant jail superintendent.