Punjab Police bust smuggling network; three held, 25 kg heroin seized

Chandigarh, July 7 (IANS) Punjab Police’s Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a narcotics smuggling network with the arrest of three people and recovered 25 kg of heroin from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Bhupinder Singh, a resident of Jandaur village in Hoshiarpur, Ravi Kumar, a resident of Kirpal Colony in Dasuya in Hoshiarpur, and Vishal Singh, a resident of Fatahpur in Amritsar.

Apart from recovering contraband, police teams have also impounded their car, which was used for drug smuggling.

The development comes a day after CI Amritsar had arrested three individuals linked to two narcotics smuggling networks and recovered 13 kg of heroin from their possession.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were operating on the directions of a cross-border smuggler and were involved in collecting heroin consignments from different locations for further delivery across Punjab.

Sharing operational details, he said that police teams from CI Amritsar had received input that suspects Bhupinder Singh and Ravi Kumar are expected to meet their associate Vishal Singh at Gill village in Amritsar for a major heroin deal.

Acting swiftly, police teams laid checkpoints and intercepted Bhupinder Singh, Ravi Kumar and Vishal Singh near Dana Mandi of Gill village, he said, adding that during their search, eight kg heroin was recovered from the possession of Vishal Singh, while 17 kg heroin was recovered from the possession of Bhupinder Singh and Ravi Kumar.

The DGP said further investigation is underway to establish linkages in this case to identify all associates involved and uncover the entire supply chain. In this regard, a case under Sections 21, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) in Amritsar.

–IANS

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