Punjab Police arrest five associates of gangster Gavi Singh in cross-border drug, weapons smuggling racket

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 8

Punjab Police arrested five suspected gangsters a drug bust on Saturday, sources in the police said.

A press note from the police said supposed confessions made after another member of the gang, suspected gangster Gavi Singh, about his associates lead to the arrest of Karanbir Singh from village Akbarpura, Harmanjit Singh from Johla, Gurjaspreet Singh from Bathal Bhai Ke and Rawinder Iqbal Singh from Hanslawala. All four villages come under Tarn Taran.

The last suspect has been identified as Samuel alias Sam belongs to Ferozepur.

All five suspected gangsters face several criminal charges in various districts in Punjab, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta said in the press note.

A close aide of gangster Jaipal, Gavi Singh was arrested from Jharkhand’s Sarai Kila Kharsawa on April 26 in a joint operation by Punjab Police’s Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) and the SAS Nagar Police.

Gupta said police found drug and weapon haul from Gavi—1.25 kg heroin from Gav Singh’s rented flat at Urban Homes-2 in Kharar, and three pistols, including one .30 calibre Chinese Pistol, and two .32 calibre Pistols and 23 live cartridges from his hideouts. Police also impounded three vehicles—including Toyota Fortuner, Mahindra Scorpio and Hyundai Verma—that were used from smuggling drugs.  

Police claimed Samuel, who’d been staying with Gavi Singh in Jamshedpur and who’d flown back Delhi before Gavi Singh’s arrested, was the person who handled distribution of heroin smuggled into India from Pakistan.

Gupta claimed Gavi Singh told police that he’d smuggled 500 kg of heroin as well as weapons from Pakistan to supply them in Punjab, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir over the last 2.5 years. He is also believed to have given police insights into smuggling of weapons and drugs into  India from across the border, and also into havala transactions through export companies based in New Delhi.

Gupta said Gavi Singh had managed to get a fake passport made to help him leave the country and settle in Portugal.