‘Shocking’, says Army veteran after son held with 85 kg heroin

Subedar Balwinder Singh (retd), who spent his life guarding the nation, had never imagined in his wildest dream that his pharmacist son Amarjot Singh will be found involved in cross-border drug smuggling.

“In the past two years, our life turned upside down when Amarjot met with an accident. Later, he become a drug addict. His addiction led to the fall and devastation of the entire family,” said Subedar Balwinder.

Amarjot was arrested by the Tarn Taran police on Friday with one of the biggest seizures of narcotics this year. The police seized 85 kg of heroin worth over Rs 500 crore on his disclosure. Initially, he was arrested with 5 kg heroin from Tarn Taran.

“I sold one and a half acres of land to construct our house a year ago. Due to ill health, I am unable to cultivate the land,” he said.

Amarjot tried to settle abroad but could not clear International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam twice.

Subedar Balwinder said after pursuing B.Pharma, Amarjot opened a chemist shop in the nearby village, which he sold last year.

Tarn Taran SSP Abhimanyu Rana said they were analysing his phone to find out the delivery and pick up points of contraband smuggled from Pakistan.

Rana said Amarjot had met three persons before he came to Tarn Taran for delivering drugs. The SSP said Amarjot had been remanded in the police custody till May 19.

The police believe that the contraband seized from him might have been smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir.