Punjab Police bust narco-hawala cartel, six held, 4 kg heroin seized

Chandigarh, June 10 (IANS) In a major breakthrough, Punjab Police have busted a narco-hawala cartel being operated by Arshdeep Singh, currently incarcerated in a jail, with the arrest of its six operatives and recovering 4.526 kg of heroin and Rs 8.7 lakh drug money from their possession, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said here on Tuesday. 

Those arrested have been identified as Karandeep Singh, 25, Jaspreet Singh, 20, Arshdeep Singh, 22, Gurmeet Singh, 24, Rajinderpal Singh, 24, and Malkeet Singh, 28.

DGP Yadav said preliminary investigation has revealed that Arshdeep Singh, in connivance with his associates Jaspreet Singh and Karandeep Singh, has been orchestrating the drug trade and hawala transactions.

Karandeep Singh, along with Gurmeet Singh and Rajinderpal Singh, were retrieving cross-border consignments and distributing them across various districts of Punjab, the DGP said.

He said the probe has further revealed proceeds from the narcotics trade were laundered via hawala channels by Jaspreet, which were routed to Dubai and subsequently to Pakistan.

The mobile phone used by Arshdeep Singh within the jail has been recovered, providing crucial evidence of their cross-border operations.

Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, said Arshdeep Singh has been lodged in jail in a commercial NDPS case. Despite incarceration, he maintained contact with cross-border smugglers. He said that one of the accused, Malkeet Singh, who has been arrested separately, is a notorious smuggler and had spent a year in Dubai, where he established links with Pakistani smugglers. Given his village's proximity to the international border, the accused has facilitated the smuggling of consignments directly to his residence upon his return to India two months ago.

The Police Commissioner said teams led by DCP Ravinderpal Singh and ADCP Jagbinder Singh executed the operation based on intelligence inputs. Apart from recovering heroin and drug money, police teams have also impounded their motorcycle, which they were using to deliver the consignments.

Picture Courtesy: IANS