Drug smuggler held guilty by special ED court in Amritsar
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Jun, 2023 12:50 PM
New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in Jalandhar has awarded four years of rigorous imprisonment to one Mahabir Singh, a drug smuggler in Amritsar for committing the offence of money laundering.
The court while awarding him a jail term also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him.
The ED said that his immovable properties which were earlier attached, were confiscated under Section 8(5) of the PMLA.
The ED initiated PMLA investigation against the accused in 2009 on the basis of an FIR registered at the Sada police station, Amritsar, under various sections of the NDPS Act and the Arms Act.
Singh was earlier convicted under the NDPS Act and was held guilty for possessing 15 kg of heroin.
Investigation conducted by the ED revealed that the proceeds of crime generated from drug trade were invested by the accused in immovable properties which were subsequently attached by the ED.
After investigation, the ED filed a prosecution complaint in 2017 under the provisions of PMLA.
The court found the accused guilty and awarded him a jail term.
In an appeal, the Chief Minister said the firing incidents at Behbal Kalan and Kotakpura in 2015 along with the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari had bruised the psyche of every human being especially the Sikh community.
With these arrests, the police have also solved 30 cases of snatching and theft and recovered 23 snatched mobile phones, several Aadhaar cards, pan cards, debit cards, four two-wheelers and metro cards from the possession of the gang members.
The decision of organising the mahapanchayat was taken in a meeting of the SKM, held in Haryana's Kurukshetra on Thursday, where office-bearers of the farmers' organisations from many states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab participated.
The development came a day after the police arrested a juvenile and recovered 15 packets of heroin, weighing 15 kg, and Rs 8.40 lakh drug money from his possession in Amritsar.
The arrested accused has been identified as Vijay Kumar, a.k.a. Toti, while his three aides have been identified as Amardeep Singh, Sooraj Singh and Rahul Lahoch, all residents of Jalandhar. The main accused, Vijay, has been facing 18 criminal cases pertaining to drugs, illegal weapons, kidnapping and extortion.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested three persons, who were trying to smuggle 17.74 kg gold worth Rs 10.1 crore on a fishing boat, and threw it overboard when intercepted, an official said on Thursday.
