DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

In a joint operation with the BSF and Rajasthan Police, Punjab Police recovered over 60 kilogram heroin near the International Border in Barmer, Rajasthan after busting a major international drug cartel, said Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav on Monday. The operation led to the arrest of at least nine persons including smugglers, traffickers and hawala operators from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, he added.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigations revealed that the drug cartel was being operated by Pakistan-based smuggler Tanveer Shah and Canada-based smuggler Joban Kaler with the help of local kingpin Gursahib Singh, who was lodged in Goindwal Sahib Jail but continued to run the network from the inside using a cell phone.

His phone was recovered with the help of jail authorities and his production warrant was obtained for a deeper probe into Canada-Pakistan linkages, he said.

The DGP said further investigations were on to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.

Those arrested were identified as Gagandeep Singh alias Gagan (23) of village Rampura in Amritsar, Jashanpreet Singh alias Jashan (20) of village Khurmania in Amritsar, Gursahib Singh (25) of village Boparai Baj in Amritsar, Rajeev Panjgotra alias Rajveer (29) of village Kalyana in J&K, Somnath (62) of Fatehpur Brahmana in J&K, Prashotam Singh alias Kala (50) of Simbal camp in J&K, Kulwinder Singh (24) of village Mullechak in Amritsar, Rajinder Kaur (42) of village Tanda in J&K and one hawala-operator.

Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the operation began after Gursahib was arrested last month with one kilogram heroin from Chheharta.

Despite being lodged in jail, he operated through his nephew Jashanpreet Singh and associate Gagandeep Singh, who were arrested with 102 gram heroin.

Their interrogation led to the 60 kilogram heroin haul in Barmer, he said. The investigation was said to have led to unearthing of hawala network used for routing drug money with the arrest of an operator. Bhullar said probe has also revealed that drugs were being smuggled from across the India-Pakistan border and routed through Rajasthan to Punjab with further local distribution channels.

Further working on backward linkages five more accused associated with Tanveer Shah of Pakistan were also identified and raids were underway to nab them, he said.

A case under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered at Police Station Chheharta in Amritsar.

(editor@dailyworld.in)