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.
The motive behind the murder was not yet clear, according to the police. Police said, the man went to a local market for shopping along with his family. He was shot dead when he was on his way back home.
In his previous marriage to Inderpreet Kaur, which ended in a divorce in 2016, Mann has two children -- son Dilshan and daughter Seerat -- who are currently staying in the US with their mother. Both children had attended Mann's swearing-in ceremony at Khatkar Kalan on March 16.
A spokesman for the Chief Minister's office said all domestic consumers in the state would be eligible to get zero bills if their consumption is up to 600 units in every billing cycle. This will give a big reprieve to the domestic consumers who have to hitherto shell out huge money every month in the form of power tariff.
On receiving information about the incident, SP City Dinesh Kumar Singh, along with police force, reached the spot. The injured youths were sent to the hospital for treatment and the matter is being investigated.
The Chief Minister said the government is fully sensitive towards checking cross-border infiltration in Punjab. He said Punjab Police is constantly in touch with the Border Security Force (BSF) and other agencies for this purpose.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
