Major Breakthrough in Punjab: Amritsar Police Busts Drug Smuggling Ring, Recovers 4.5 kg Heroin

In yet another breakthrough against trans-border narcotic smuggling networks amidst the ongoing war against drugs, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has arrested three persons including two brothers after recovering 4.5 kg heroin and Rs 4.32 lakh drug money from their possession, and a jail warden for supplying drugs into the Central Jail Amritsar, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

The arrested drug smugglers have been identified as Akashdeep Singh alias Akash and Satwinderpal Singh alias Satti, both residents of Guru Hargobindpura in Chheharta, Amritsar, while, jail warden has been identified as Gurmej Singh, a resident of Village Kot Sadar Khan in Moga. The latter used to supply heroin to the prisoners lodged in the Central Jail Amritsar.

The development came a day after Amritsar Commissionerate Police arrested three drug smugglers after recovering 5kg of heroin and Rs 3.95 lakh drug money from their possession.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said preliminary investigations have revealed that accused Akashdeep Singh and Satinderpal Singh were directly in touch with Pakistan-based drug smugglers, who were using drones to transport drugs across the border.

He said that during questioning, arrested accused persons have revealed that they used to supply heroin to jail warden Gurmej Singh to supply it to drug smugglers sitting in jail. Technical leads were developed in a professional investigation and an FIR has been registered under the NDPS Act, he said, while adding that investigations are ongoing to establish backward and forward linkages in this case.

Sharing operation details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that teams of CIA Staff-2 received reliable input that two brothers had retrieved a huge consignment of narcotics dropped using a drone from across the border and concealed it at their residence in Guru Hargobindpura, Chheharta.

Acting swiftly, Police teams from Police Station Chheharta Amritsar under the supervision of DCP City Amritsar Abhimanyu Rana IPS, DCP investigation Harpreet Mandher and ACP West Shivdarshan Singh, laid a trap and arrested both the drug smugglers from a house in near Dera Radha Soami, Guru Hargobindpura, Chheharta Amritsar.

He said that following their revelations regarding the connivance of the jail warden, Police teams have also arrested Gurmej Singh from the Fatehpur area of Amritsar. He said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the jail warden was acting as a mediator between drug smugglers sitting inside the jail. Further investigations are on to identify the drug smugglers in the jail to whom heroin was being supplied, he said.

A case FIR No. 184, dated 09/10/2024 has been registered under sections 21-C and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Chheharta in Amritsar.