Punjab Police Seize 50 Kg Heroin, Bust Trans-Border Smuggling Network

Chandigarh: In a major recovery of narcotics, Punjab Police's Anti-Narcotics Task Force on Saturday recovered 50 kg of heroin after busting a trans-border drug trafficking module, officials said. Sandeep Singh alias Seepa, a notorious drug smuggler and a resident of village Shanna Sher Singh Wala in Kapurthala district, was arrested in connection with the recovery of the heroin, police said.

Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said that apart from recovering a big haul of heroin, the police also impounded his white car in which he was travelling. Preliminary investigation revealed that this trans-border shipment of 50 kg of heroin was sent by Pakistan-based and ISI-supported smugglers.

Sandeep is a history-sheeter with eight criminal cases, including five under the Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances Act, registered against him, indicating his deep involvement in organised drug trafficking. He was recently released from Kapurthala Jail, the DGP said. The DGP informed that further investigations are ongoing to establish the backward and forward linkages in this case, and that more recovery is likely in the coming days.

Sharing operational details, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) ANTF Nilabh Kishore said that acting on precise technical intelligence, the ANTF teams were tracking the movement of the accused after he was released from prison earlier this month. Intelligence suggested that the suspect collected a heavy consignment of contraband from the border village of Baggeke Utar in Jalalabad, the officer mentioned further.

Acting swiftly, the ANTF teams spotted the suspect driving towards Ferozepur and, upon being challenged, he attempted to evade arrest, leading to a hot pursuit by the police team, the ADGP said. The suspect was eventually intercepted at Rauke village following a brief encounter, where he tried to run his vehicle over the police party, the officer noted, adding that a probe is underway to identify the intended recipients of this consignment.