NIA arrests drug-trafficker from Amritsar in Hizbul narco-terror case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday said it has arrested alleged drug trafficker Gurjant Singh alias Ashish Gattu in Amritsar in connection with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen narco-terror case.

Officials in the agency said the NIA sleuths arrested the drug trafficker yesterday.

The NIA probe team during the course of investigation found that arrested accused Gurjant Singh “is a drug trafficker and was a close associate of the charge-sheeted accused persons in the case”.

“He used to purchase illegally smuggled heroin from other accused persons Bikramjit Singh alias Vicky and Sarwan Singh and further sell it locally. The proceeds collected from the sale of such heroin were sent to Kashmir and Pakistan through hawala,” said a senior agency official.

According to the official Gurjant Singh was later produced before a special NIA court in Mohali, which sent to the agency’s custody for four days

According to the officials the case was originally registered on April 25, 2020 at Police Station Sadar in Amritsar City relating to the arrest of Hilal Ahmad Shergojri and seizure of a truck and recovery of Rs. 29 Lakhs from his possession.

Hilal was an overground worker and a close associate of Riyaz Ahmad Naikoo, the then commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in Kashmir and had come to Amritsar to collect funds that were proceeds of narcotics sale, for furthering terrorist activities in J&K.

Later the case was handed over to the NIA, which re-registered the case and took up the probe into the case. Earlier, NIA had filed charge-sheets against 11 accused persons in connection with the case.

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