Another international drugs racket busted in Punjab

Punjab Police Sunday claimed to have busted another international drugs smuggling racket, and said five smugglers and a hawala agent have been arrested and over 27 kg of heroin seized after a 10-day operation.

Additional Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the operation led to the busting of the drug smuggling network operating at the national and international levels.

"On June 27, a kingpin of this racket, Amandeep Singh of Tarn Taran district, was arrested. A total of 11 kg heroin was seized from him. Also, a car and a mobile phone with a Pakistani SIM card were recovered," Gupta said.

On Sunday, police intercepted smugglers Hardeep Singh of Amritsar and Heera Singh, Gurbinder Singh and Buta Singh - all from Tarn Taran - near Goindwal Sahib, 210 km from here.

Police recovered 16 kg heroin and a Chinese .30 pistol from them.

Gupta said the heroin consignment (over 27 kg) originated from two Lahore-based smugglers - Kalu Chairman and Nasir.

"The heroin was pushed across the border from Muzzafarabad (Pakistan-administered Kashmir) and was to be taken initially to Jaisalmer where the Pakistani smugglers had arranged that the heroin be delivered to a smuggler Kheru of Jaisalmer and his associates based in Rajasthan," Gupta said.

He said the Indian smugglers had links with drug smugglers from Burundi in Africa.

Police also arrested hawala dealer Parkash Singh Bhatia of Amritsar. He was involved in hawala transactions for the smugglers.

Punjab Police have sent teams to Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi for further investigation.

Punjab Police had earlier (in 2013 and 2014) busted two international drugs smuggling rackets that had trafficked narcotics worth Rs.6,000 crore.