— ARRESTED ACCUSED WAS WORKING UNDER DIRECTIONS OF FOREIGN BASED HANDLER HARPAL SINGH: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— PROBE REVEALS HARPAL SINGH MIGRATED TO USA TWO YEARS BACK, GOT INDULGED IN DRUG SMUGGLING TRADE AFTER SETTLING THERE
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, September 20:
Amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and drug free state as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Amritsar has busted a cross-border narcotics smuggling module being operated by foreign-based handler Harpal Singh and arrested one of its operative after recovering 5.032 kg heroin from his possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.
The arrested accused has been identified as Pawandeep Singh, a resident of Beharwal in Amritsar.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that during questioning, the arrested accused Pawandeep has revealed that he was working under the directions of his foreign-based handler Harpal Singh, a native of village Kohala in Amritsar and currently living in USA. The latter is directly in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers and arranged several consignments of narcotics and weapon from across the border with the help of drones, he said.
He said that further investigations have revealed that Harpal Singh, who migrated to the USA about two years ago, appears to have initially had a clean record but may have later become involved in the drug smuggling trade after settling abroad.
Sharing operation details, the DGP said that CI Amritsar had received specific intelligence about retrieval of narcotics consignments from Indo-Pak border area falling near village Dhanoe Kalan in Amritsar. Acting swiftly, police team intercepted the suspect Pawandeep Singh from near village Beharwal in Amritsar, when he was going to further deliver the consignment to some party and recovered narcotics from his possession, he said.
Further investigations are underway to uncover the network’s backward and forward linkages in this case to expose the full nexus.
A case FIR No. 52 dated 19-09-2025 has been registered under sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.
