FIVE LINKED TO CROSS-BORDER NARCOTICS SMUGGLING CARTELS HELD WITH 7KG HEROIN IN AMRITSAR
— ARRESTED ACCUSED WERE IN CONTACT WITH PAK-BASED SMUGGLER, WHO WAS SENDING CONSIGNMENTS VIA DRONES: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— PAK-BASED SMUGGLER WAS COORDINATING DISTRIBUTION OF DRUGS THROUGH LOCAL HANDLERS: CP ASR GURPREET BHULLAR
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, April 21 (WISHAVWARTA);- In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a drug-free state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has busted two inter-linked cross-border narcotics smuggling cartels with the arrest of five accused persons and recovered 7.050 kg heroin from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Deepak Singh alias Deepu (22), a resident of Harkrishan Nagar in Chheharta, Amritsar; Prince Singh alias Prince, a resident of village Kohala in Amritsar; Rajinder Singh alias Ghuddu (23), Randeep Singh alias Dil (19) and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi (21), trio residents of village Sensra Kalan in Amritsar. Apart from recovering heroin, police teams have also impounded one motorcycle being used for drug trafficking.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused were in contact with a Pakistan-based smuggler, who was sending consignments via drones and coordinating distribution of drugs across state through local handlers.
The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages of this drug smuggling network.
Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that in a targeted operation based on reliable input, police teams arrested Deepak Singh alias Deepu and recovered 1.3 kg heroin from his possession. During further interrogation, an additional 2.6 kg heroin was recovered, making the total recovery 4.04 kg heroin, he said.
He said that the during further investigation regarding the common Pakistan-based handler, police teams arrested three more accused— Rajinder alias Ghuddu, Randeep alias Dil and Gurpreet alias Gopi and 1.01 kg heroin from his possession. On further disclosure of the arrested accused, their fourth associate, Prince Singh alias Prince, was also apprehended and 2 kg heroin was recovered from his possession, he added.
The CP said that arrested accused Deepak alias Deepu has previous criminal involvement under the NDPS Act, with a case registered at Khanna.
In this regard, two separate cases— FIR No. 77 dated 08-04-2026 under section 21-C of the NDPS Act at Police Station Chheharta and FIR No. 61 dated 17-04-2026 under section 21-C of the NDPS Act at Police Station Cantonment— have been registered.
