Chandigarh, Aug 31 (IANS) Busting a big drug syndicate operated by notorious gangsters lodged in jails, the Punjab Police have seized 20 kg heroin worth Rs 100 crore with the arrest of two drug dealers.
The two drug suppliers have been identified as Balwinder Singh of Sarangwal Hoshiarpur village and Peter Masih of Basti Danishmanda locality in Jalandhar. Peter already faces two criminal cases.
Director General of Police (DGP), Dinkar Gupta, said that when police teams intercepted a truck and a Hyundai i20 car at the high-tech Dhilwan police post in Kapurthala on Monday, the search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 20 kg heroin.
He added that the drivers of the vehicles were signalled to stop, but the occupants tried to flee. However, the cops managed to nab them after a brief chase.
The police recovered 20 packets of heroin (one kg each) from their personal possession during their body check and from the two vehicles, the DGP said.
H.S. Khakh, SSP, Kapurthala, said that two special cavities had been created in the roof of driver's cabin of the truck by the drug suppliers to conceal the consignments during transportation.
The DGP added that during preliminary investigation, the drug dealers disclosed that a heroin consignment was being smuggled from Purmara Mandi in Srinagar by Balwinder Singh in a truck which was collected by Peter.
He said a narco-gangster angle is being suspected in the case as the investigations carried out so far have indicated that Peter had been sent to collect the consignment by Gaggandeep, the brother of notorious gangster Rajnish Kumar, alias Preet Phagwara.
Calling the reports of alleged snooping on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware as "baseless", the ruling BJP on Monday said there is not a single shred of evidence so far that links either the central government or the party to this controversy.
Congress MPs from both Houses had met on Sunday afternoon at Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa's residence to discuss the issues related to Punjab and sought an appointment with Gandhi.
Apart from reviewing the security arrangements in the national capital, the Delhi Police have also strengthened the security in and around the Red Fort ahead of the Independence Day.
Police said acting on a specific information, Budgam Police along with the Army's 53 RR and 43 BN of the CRPF arrested one local terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Chinese pistol, one magazine, eight live pistol rounds from his possession.
As the Pegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, he termed it a "shocking assault" on India's democratic polity by the Union government, which had compromised the national security with "this blatantly disgraceful act".
The shocking incident happened on Sunday when the lawyer, Satyadev Joshi and his associate Ankit Tandon had gone to survey a land for a client in Dahisar suburb.
