Punjab Police arrest wanted in heroin haul in Mumbai
Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Nov, 2022 10:42 AM
Chandigarh, Nov 3 (IANS) In a crucial breakthrough, Punjab Police have arrested three high-profile drug smugglers, who were wanted in a 72.5-kg heroin haul from Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said here on Thursday.
The contraband, which was kept concealed in the door of the container containing white marble tiles, was jointly recovered by the teams of Punjab Police and ATS Mumbai in July. The container was imported by a Delhi-based importer.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurwinder Singh, alias Mehak (27), Gursewak Singh, alias Sewak (25), and Manjit Singh, alias Soni (34). The trio, arrested from Gurdaspur, were actively involved in a high-level trans-border and inter-state drug smuggling.
DGP Yadav said following inputs, Gurdaspur Police launched a special operation on Wednesday evening and arrested the accused after intercepting an SUV Mahindra Thar at the Amritsar-Jammu highway in the Dhariwal area of Gurdaspur.
The police have also recovered a revolver along with six cartridges of 9mm and live cartridges of .32 bore during the search of the vehicle, he added.
Earlier, the Mumbai ATS had managed to arrest accused Harsimran Sethi from Delhi, who ordered the consignment and his aide, Mohinder Singh Rathore, who was working as a clearing agent.
The DGP said during the investigation, the Mumbai ATS had nominated these three arrested persons, who were recipients of the container and went to Delhi to clear the consignment.
SSP Gurdaspur Deepak Hilori said accused Gurwinder Singh and Manjit Singh were also wanted by Amritsar Rural Police in an attempt to murder case in which they fired upon the police party of Amritsar Rural district in October 2020.
He said that further investigations are going on to unravel this network of drug smuggling in Punjab and other states.
A pilot was killed and another injured when a Cheetah helicopter of Army Aviation crashed near Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang on Wednesday, officials said. Defence spokesman Lt. Col Mahendra Rawat said that the Cheetah helicopter, which was on a routine sortie, crashed at around 10 a.m. injuring both the pilots and they were immediately evacuated to nearest Military Hospital.
The arrested have been identified as Jaskaran Singh, lodged at Sub Jail in Goindwal Sahib, and Rattanbir Singh, who is out on bail. Police recovered 10 foreign-made pistols, including five .30 bore (made in China) and five 9mm (made in the US) along with eight magazines from both of them, besides a mobile phone concealed by Jaskaran Singh in his barrack.
The module is being jointly operated by Canada-based Lakhbir Singh, alias Landa, Pakistan-based Harvinder Singh Rinda and Italy-based Harpreet Singh, alias Happy. The arrested accused has been identified as Yograj Singh, alias Yog, a resident of Rajoke village in Tarn Taran district.
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.
