Four drug smugglers arrested in Fazilka with 36.9 kg heroin

Kulwinder Sandhu

Moga, April 12

Punjab Police arrested four drug smugglers and recovered 35 packets of heroin, weighing 36.9 kg, from their possession near Lalo Wali village in Fazilka district.

Those arrested have been identified as Manpreet Singh, Jaspal singh alias Gopi, Sukhdev Singh and Dyalvinder Singh, all residents of Tarn Taran district. The police have also recovered two sedan cars, including white Hyundai Elantra (PB-02-DP-0717) and a silver Honda Civic (PB-63-D-2370), which were used to smuggle drug consignments from Rajasthan.

Following reliable inputs about influx of large quantities of heroin from Rajasthan to Punjab, police teams from Fazilka district carried out operation at Fazilka-Ferozepur road near canal bridge in the area of Lalo Wali village, where these four persons werewaiting for someone sitting in their cars. After seeing the police party, they tried to flee from the spot, but police teams managed to apprehend them.

In a major breakthrough against trans-border narcotic smuggling networks, @FazilkaPolice recovered 36.9 Kg Heroin and arrested four persons.

Arrested persons were coming after retrieving drug consignment from #Rajasthan.

Drones were used to drop consignment. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/lOivpNLvGU

— DGP Punjab Police (@DGPPunjabPolice) April 12, 2023

During checking, police teams recovered 23 packets of heroin, weighing 24.295 kg, kept concealed inside cardboard enclosure of car windows,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav, while adding that another chunk of 12 packets of heroin, weighing 12.620 kg, were recovered from pinpointed location disclosed by the arrested drug smugglers.

Divulging details, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ferozepur Range Ranjit Singh Dhillon said as per preliminary investigations, the accused persons were coming from Rajasthan after retrieving the heroin consignment dropped from across the border using a drone.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Avneet Kaur Sidhu said further investigations were on to find out more people involved in this module and also the Punjab-based receiver of the consignment. More arrests were expected in the coming days, she said.

Meanwhile, an FIR under Sections 21(C), 23, 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered at the police station (rural) in Fazilka city.