— ACCUSED WERE OPERATING ON THE DIRECTIONS OF A CROSS-BORDER SMUGGLER: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING TO ESTABLISH FORWARD AND BACKWARD LINKAGES IN THIS CASE
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, July 7:
In yet another major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a drug free state as per directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a narcotics smuggling network with the arrest of three individuals and recovered 25 kg heroin from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.
Those arrested have been identified as Bhupinder Singh, a resident of village Jandaur in Hoshiarpur; Ravi Kumar, a resident of Kirpal Colony in Dasuya, Hoshiarpur; and Vishal Singh, a resident of Fatahpur in Amritsar. Apart from recovering contraband, police teams have also impounded their Hyundai Verna car (PB10-GS-7779), which was being used for drug smuggling.
The development came a day after CI Amritsar had arrested three individuals linked to two narcotics smuggling networks and recovered 13 kg heroin from their possession.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were operating on the directions of a cross-border smuggler and were involved in collecting heroin consignments from different locations for further delivery across Punjab.
Sharing operational details, he said that police teams from CI Amritsar had received reliable input that suspects Bhupinder Singh and Ravi Kumar are expected to meet their associate Vishal Singh on Mehta Road at village Gill in Amritsar for a major heroin deal.
Acting swiftly, police teams laid Nakas and intercepted Bhupinder Singh, Ravi Kumar and Vishal Singh near Dana Mandi of village Gill in Amritsar, he said, while adding that during their search, 8 kg heroin was recovered from the possession of Vishal Singh, while, 17 kg heroin was recovered from possession of Bhupinder Singh and Ravi Kumar.
The DGP said that further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages in this case to identify all associates involved, and uncover the entire supply chain.
In this regard, a case FIR No. 44 dated 07-07-2026 under section 21, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered at Police Station State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) Amritsar.
