Drug refining racket busted 3 years ago, too

Tribune News Service

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, January 10

Is Punjab becoming a point for refining raw heroin smuggled from Pakistan? This question has cropped up as the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) busted two factories and a laboratory in Ludhiana. NCB sleuths arrested 16 persons, including two Afghan nationals, and seized 60 kg of contraband from different places in a 45-day operation.

In February 2020, the STF had unearthed a heroin-refining racket in Amritsar’s Sultanwind village. The police had confiscated over 188-kg heroin apart from 38 kg of dextromethorphan powder, 25-kg caffeine powder and six drums containing 207 kg of chemical composition for refining heroin.

An Afghan national, Arman Basharmal, was nabbed from a plush house at Akash Vihar in Sultanwind. The house belonged to former SAD leader Anwar Masih, who was also arrested later.

An official of the STF said smuggling through coastal route, especially Gujarat, had witnessed a massive increase in the past several years.

IG, Border Range, Mohnish Chawla said smuggling through sea route had definitely witnessed a rise, but smugglers were also using Punjab as a transit point.

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