Police get more leads in drug probe, two more arrested

Punjab Police today claimed a major success in the synthetic drug racket case by uncovering two important supply chains of chemicals and arrested two persons after nabbing Arjuna awardee Jagdish Singh alias Bhola and his four accomplices.
They achieved the success while developing the operational leads disclosed by the mastermind, Bhola, a senior police official said here.
He said Jagjit Singh Chahal, of village Romana Chack, Tehsil Baba Bakala, district Amritsar and Manjinder Singh Aulakh of village Preet Lari, Lopoke, district Amritsar have been arrested in this connection.
Patiala SSP, H S Mann said Bhola disclosed during interrogation "that he was inspired by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to make it big in the crime world".

"In 2008, Bhola was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai with 25 kg of synthetic drugs and was lodged in the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai. He came into contact with the estranged former lieutenant of Dawood, Abu Salem and also Mustafa Dosa.
"Due to his contacts, Jagdish Bhola was able to secure certain facilities in the jail, including outside food which acted as a causative factor for Abu Salem and Mustafa Dosa to come close to him," Mann said.

He also said Bhola interacted very closely with these two former associates of Dawood Ibrahim and showed keen interest in the manner in which Dawood operated his illegal enterprise, especially the drug business. The inputs received from Abu Salem and Mustafa Dosa convinced Jagdish Singh Bhola that he could also make it big in the illegal drug trade.

Mann said further interrogation of Jagdish Bhola revealed that his contacts in Canada were sending the synthetic drug to Australia, primarily through air cargo.
"The drug would be mixed with banana powder to avoid detection. Sophisticated mechanisms of concealing the contrabands were used like false cavities in containers, food product boxes etc," he said.
Mann said that Jagjit Singh Chahal was operating three factories manufacturing precursor chemicals ephedrine and pseudoephedrine which were allegedly diverted illegally from the medicine sector to manufacture of the synthetic drug.
Bhola and his four accomplices - Sarabjit Singh alias Saba, Harpreet Singh alias Happy, Baljinder Singh and Ravinder Singh - were arrested on Monday from a dhaba on GT Road near Haryana's Murthal, about 50 km from Delhi.