15 kgs heroin recovered in Amritsar, 7 persons including woman arrested

AMRITSAR: Sleuths of the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of the Punjab police dismantled a significant drug cartel that was being orchestrated from within a jail following the apprehension of seven drug smugglers including a woman.


Police have also recovered 15 kgs of heroin along with Rs 7 lakh drug money and 2 vehicles from their possession.

Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav informed on Saturday that the arrested had been identified as Gurpinder Singh alias Bhinda, Narinder Singh, and Ranjodh Singh alias Jodha, all residents of village Haruwal in Gurdaspur, and Rajdeep Singh, Ram Singh, Jaspal Singh and Rajwinder Kaur, all residents of Ferozepur.

Out of seven arrested smugglers, three were couriers responsible for deliveries while the four were recipients.

Yadav said that that CI , Amritsar had intelligence input that Gurpinder Bhinda, Narinder, and Ranjodh Jodha had recently retrieved a heroin consignment from the area of village Haruwal, which was sent by Pak-based smugglers using drones and were expected to deliver it to some party in Amritsar following which police swung into action and launched an operation resulting in the arrest of the trio accused persons from Haruwal and recovered 15 Kg heroin from their possession. The consignment was delivered in six sorties from Pakistan, each carrying a packet of 2.5 Kg heroin, he added.

"Investigations have revealed that the mastermind Jaspreet Singh alias Kali of Moga, who is currently lodged in Faridkot Jail, was in touch with Pak-based drug smugglers via WhatsApp and managing this drug cartel from the jail," said the DGP, while adding that the Police teams would soon bring him on production warrant for further investigations.

During investigations, Gurpinder Bhinda revealed that Jaspreet Kali was expected to send a party to collect the consignment from a parking lot near the Town Hall in Amritsar City.

The police teams laid a naka near the parking area and arrested the remaining four accused persons, who came to pick up the heroin consignment. The Police teams have recovered Rs 7 lakh of drug money and two cars from their possession, he added.

A case under sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act was registered at the police station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.