Chandigarh: Punjab police on Sunday claimed to have busted a Pakistan-backed drug cartel with the arrest of six individuals, including an army personnel and a dismissed police personnel, and recovered 4.8 kg heroin and one .30 bore pistol along with three live cartridges from their possession in Faridkot district.
Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said that those arrested have been identified as Jarnail Singh alias Goldy of Ludhiana, who is currently serving in the Indian Army, Amardeep Singh alias Boxer (a dismissed PAP cadre employee) and Dimple Rani of Ferozepur, Ramandeep Kaur, Sarabjit Singh alias Sabba, and Amritpal Singh alias Abhijot, all residents of Moga.
Apart from recovering the contraband, the police teams also seized Rs 30,000 drug money and impounded their two vehicles, including Thar and XUV-500, which they were using for drug trafficking, he said and added that the breakthrough is the result of an intelligence-led operation and a two-month-long jail-based interception that exposed the deep-rooted linkages of the cartel.
Preliminary investigation has suggested that the accused were in direct contact with Pakistan-based smugglers who were using drones to push heroin consignments into Indian territory, he said.
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Senior Superintendent of Police, Faridkot, Pragya Jain said that the main kingpin, Boxer, is a habitual offender with nine previous criminal cases, while other members also have criminal records under the NDPS and Arms Acts.
The involvement of a serving Army personnel and a dismissed police official points toward a sophisticated network capable of exploiting institutional knowledge for trafficking, she said and added that they misused their official identification cards for easy passage through nakas and toll plazas. The use of women accomplices in vehicles , also points to well-thought out modus operandi for narcotics smuggling, she held.
