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.
A police officer said that the narcotic substances were recovered from several soap cases kept in hidden chambers in an 18-wheel truck. The police have arrested the driver Hannan Ali. The vehicle was coming from Manipur and the consignment was most probably to be delivered in Guwahati.
Delhi Police had sought the custody of the arrested persons, which was granted by a duty magistrate on Tuesday. The four persons were arrested on Sunday night. Recently, a fresh case under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was lodged by the Delhi Police against the members of PFI, which was banned for five years by the Centre last week.
Punjab Police have arrested 5,824 drug smugglers, including 916 big fish, since July 5, Inspector General Sukhchain Singh Gill said here on Tuesday. He said 203 kg heroin was recovered. Additionally, 147.5 kg heroin was recovered by Punjab Police from seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 350 kg in just three months.
Farmers under the aegis of Kisan Mazdur Sangarash Committee (KMSC) held protest and rail roko prorgramme at 17 different places in Punjab on Monday to mark the anniversary of Lakhimpur Kheri incident. It may be noted that 8 persons including four farmers had died during a protest in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3, 2021.
Announcing this on the floor of Assembly, he said the farmers will get the additional amount under State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane as compared to the last year. With this decision, the state government will spend additional Rs 200 crore annually to benefit the farmers.
Accordingly, the police registered a case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (atttempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) at the Adarsh Nagar police station and during investigation, it was revealed that deceased had a quarrel with the five accused classmates in their school, due to which they murdered him to take revenge, while they were going home.
