Bike-borne trio fires at cops, frees drug peddler

Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, August 18

Three motorcycle-borne assailants freed a cross-border drug peddler from custody after opening fire at a police team here on Saturday.

He was identified as Harbhajan Singh alias Rana, a resident of Nihala Khilcha village in the district. Head Constable Lachhman Singh, who received two bullet injuries in the thigh, was taken to Government Medical College, Faridkot.

A three-member police team had brought Rana, who was lodged in the high-security Nabha jail, for a court appearance here. After the court proceedings, the cops were taking him back to Patiala district in a police van. They had halted for lunch at a dhaba near Ghall Khurd village on the Ferozepur-Moga road when the bikers arrived and fired at them. Two cops escaped unhurt, even as the assailants fled with Rana.

In June, the police had arrested four gangsters in Moga and recovered three pistols from their possession. They had planned to help Rana escape from the Ferozepur Central Jail, following which he was shifted to Nabha.

In December 2015, the Ferozepur police had arrested Rana, following an intelligence input, from Gatti Rajoke area along the India-Pakistan border. The cops had recovered 22.5-kg heroin from his possession. His accomplices, Rishi alias Babbar of Zirakpur and Saurabh of Phillaur, had also been arrested.

Pritam Singh, SSP, said Rana had been booked in several cases under the NDPS Act, adding that he was a key conduit of Pakistan-based operatives.

Sources said the police team which brought Rana here did not give prior information to their local counterparts about their arrival.

Mukhwinder Singh, SP (Headquarters), said the police would probe the lapses that had led to Rana’s escape.