The Punjab Police on Monday arrested an Army jawan and three more in connection with the illegal arms and drug smuggling rackets busted on July 12.
A Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and three others were arrested earlier.
The total number of persons arrested in the case so far now stands at eight, said Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta. He said that the police was actively engaged in following the money trail to eradicate the drug menace from the state, in fulfilment of the promise made by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
The DGP said, "Ramandeep Singh, the Indian Army soldier, was apprehended from Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), where he was currently posted, on the basis of disclosures made by BSF Constable Sumit Kumar, who was arrested along with three accomplices by Jalandhar (Rural) police a week ago."
"Ramandeep's three accomplices, Taranjot Singh, Tanna Jagjit Singh, Laddi and Satinder Singh Kaala, have also been arrested and are being brought on production warrants. Another Rs 10 lakh has been recovered from Kala as drug money, taking the total amount of such money seized in the case to Rs 42.30 lakhs," he added.
He further said that Kumar and Singh were lodged together in Gurdaspur Jail after committing a murder in their village, Magar Muddian. Sumit Kumar was bailed out on January 1, 2018 and Ramandeep Singh was bailed out on September 14, 2019.
Throwing light on modus operandi of the gang, the DGP said, Sumit used to send photographs of the fencing, drug-delivery locations and others to Tanna and Kaala. After the delivery of the consignment on the Indian side at a pre-determined time and place, three other accomplices of Tanna used to collect it from Sumit Kumar.
In line with its strategy of 'following the money trail' to hit out hard at the various pillars of the drug smuggling and supply trade, based in Pakistan, the UAE and various parts of India, such as Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi, the Punjab Police have successfully busted many modules in the narco-terrorism supply chain, which is operated under the direct watch of the ISI as well as the rest of the Pakistan establishment to finance its terror operations, the DGP further said.
( With inputs from ANI )