Pak-backed narco-terrorism hawala racket busted, 11 held

Striking a major blow to the narco-terrorism hawala network, the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of the Punjab Police, in coordination with Central agencies, arrested 11 persons, including five drug smugglers, three drug money couriers and three hawala traders, and seized Rs 5.09-crore drug money in foreign currency.

Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Monday that the development came after two months of meticulous investigation and sustained follow-up of backward and forward linkages in connection with the arrest of Harjinder Singh, alias Ajay, and Harmanjit Singh, alias Harry, in January.

The DGP said the ANTF had also identified Rs 100-crore illegal properties of those involved in the network and the process was on to freeze those assets under Section 68F of the NDPS Act. The probe revealed that the network spanned across Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Phagwara and Panchkula, he said.

The arrested smugglers were identified as Harjinder Singh (26), alias Ajay, of Ram Talai in Amritsar; Harmanjit Singh (27), alias Harry, of Guru Nanak Colony in Amritsar; Sagar (28) of Naraingarh in Chheharta, Amritsar; Lavdeep Singh (30), alias Lala of Husanpura Kalan in Batala; and Harbhaj Singh (30), alias Bheja, of Kakkar in Amritsar.

The drug money hawala couriers were identified as Saurav Mahajan (24) of Joda Phatak in Amritsar, Tanush (28) of Ghah Mandi Chowk in Amritsar and Harminder Singh (28), alias Harry, of Damganj in Amritsar.

The arrested hawala traders were: Ashok Kumar Sharma (60), owner of Phagwara-based Sharma Forex Money Changer, and his accomplices Rajesh Kumar (50) of Mutiarpur Mohalla in Phagwara and Amit Bansal (47), alias Sunil, of Sukhchain Nagar in Phagwara.

The DGP said the ANTF teams arrested hawala money couriers Saurav, Tanush and Harminder and seized Rs 47.50 lakh drug money, besides impounding their car. On January 24, the police teams arrested drug smugglers Sagar and Lavdeep Singh, alias Lala, and seized from them Rs 5 lakh drug money and 160 gm heroin.

Amritsar Central Jail inmate Harbhaj Singh, alias Bheja, has emerged as the mastermind of the racket. He was in contact with Pakistan-based drug smuggler Shahbaz from inside the jail, the DGP said.