12 kg heroin seized in Punjab, four arrested

Chandigarh, Sep 10 Acting swiftly in the 8 kg heroin recovery case, Commissionerate Police Amritsar has arrested four more drug smugglers and recovered 12 kg contraband from their possession, taking the total seizure of the drugs in this case to 20 kg, said Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Gurbhej Singh (50) and his son Gurdit Singh (22), Malkit Singh (50) and Gurjit Singh (29).

The DGP said a .30 bore pistol and a magazine were also recovered from the possession of the accused.

The development comes close on the heels of Punjab Police busting a heroin trafficking cartel with the arrest of the notorious drug smuggler identified as Soni Singh, alias Soni, along with his four associates - Gursewak Singh, Vishaldeep Singh, alias Gola, Gurpreet Singh and Arshdeep Singh and recovered 8.1 kg heroin from their possession.

DGP Yadav said the latest arrests have exposed another network of the trans-border cartel operating in Tarn Taran and Amritsar Rural sectors.

All accused were using WhatsApp to communicate with each other and with the Pakistan-based smugglers, he said.

The DGP said further investigations are ongoing to establish linkages in this case. More arrests and recoveries are likely in the coming days, he added.

Sharing operation details, Commissioner of Police (Amritsar) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that during interrogation, arrested drug smuggler Gursewak Singh revealed that a father-son duo, Gurbhej Singh and Gurdit Singh, along with Malkit Singh, were running the drug syndicate in the area. Gurbhej Singh was coordinating smuggling operations in the border area of the Tarn Taran sector and maintained direct contact with Pakistan-based smugglers, he said.

Bhullar said the accused Gurbhej Singh had been receiving consignments via drone drop-offs in fields owned by his associate, Malkit Singh, located close to the International border.

Accused Gurbhej was using cattle sheds to conceal the heroin consignments, he said, adding that following his disclosure, 10 kg of heroin was recovered from an earthen pit in plastic containers at his house.

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