4-day remand for granthi, two others in drugs case

A local court today remanded the “granthi” of a private gurdwara, his wife and brother in four-day police custody for further investigations. They were arrested by the Amritsar rural police for cross-border drug trafficking on Friday.

Around 2.7 kg heroin, three mobile phones and Rs 40,500 drug money were seized from their possession. The suspects were identified as granthi Joga Singh (45), his wife Sharanjit Kaur and his brother Punjab Singh, all residents of Gagarmal village located just 1.5 km from the barbed border fence.

Preliminary probe revealed that Joga and Punjab had direct links with Pakistan-based drug traffickers and they used to get the drug consignments dropped via drones in the fields located on the rear side of the gurdwara. Though the trio did not have any previous criminal record, the police have termed their arrest as a major success.

“Investigations revealed that the duo has been involved in drug trafficking for the past one year and only last week, they had trafficked around 12 kg contraband from Pakistan,” said police sources privy to the investigations.

The police got inputs regarding their involvement in high-scale trans-border drug peddling. They were going from Gagarmal village to Bachiwind border village after retrieving a consignment when the police intercepted them and seized the contraband. Heroin was wrapped in yellow adhesive tape with an iron ring attached, suggesting that it was smuggled through a drone. The probe was on to identify their forward chain of network.

Sources said though they had just 3.5 acre land, they owned two palatial houses, two tractors and other properties. “We are identifying their legal and illegal properties that will be frozen after following due legal procedure,” said Harinder Singh Gill, Superintendent of Police (Detective), Amritsar rural.