Punjab Police seize 17 kg heroin, three arrested

Chandigarh: In its third major strike within four days, Punjab Police’s Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted another cross-border narcotics smuggling module with the arrest of three key operatives and recovered 17 kg of heroin from their possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Saturday. Police identified the arrested as Prince, Malkit Singh, and Rajinder Singh, all residents of Kot Mit Singh in Amritsar. Apart from recovering 17 kg of heroin, police teams also impounded a car used for transporting the contraband.

With this seizure, CI Amritsar has pushed the total recovery of heroin to 54 kg in four days, having previously recovered consignments of 27 kg and 10 kg.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation revealed that the accused were allegedly operating in coordination with cross-border smugglers and receiving heroin consignments for further supply.

Sharing operational details, he said CI Amritsar teams had received specific input that three operatives of the smuggling module had received a drone-dropped consignment and were expected to strike a major drug deal beneath the flyover on the Amritsar-Tarn Taran road. Acting promptly, police established a checkpoint and intercepted their car near the park by the flyover. During the search, 17 kg of heroin was recovered.

The DGP said further investigation is underway to establish complete forward and backward linkages in the case, identify other persons involved, and dismantle the wider cross-border narcotics network. Earlier, on September 16, four persons were held with 27 kg of heroin and a foreign-made .30 bore PX5 pistol with three cartridges.

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The Hans India