— PROBE REVEALS LINKS WITH PAK-BASED SMUGGLER AND FOREIGN-BASED HANDLER ORCHESTRATING CROSS-BORDER CONSIGNMENTS: DGP GAURAV YADAV
— FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING; MORE ARRESTS AND RECOVERIES LIKELY
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR, March 23:
In a 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 module with the arrest of two operatives and recovered 5 Kg Heroin from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday.
Those arrested have been identified as Maninder Singh, a resident of Khatrai Khurd in Amritsar and Gurjant Singh, a resident of Phirwaria in Amritsar. Apart from recovering contraband, police teams have also impounded their Hatchback Hyundai i20 car bearing registration number PB10GH0140, being used for transporting the consignment.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed links of arrested accused persons with a Pakistan-based smuggler and a foreign-based handler orchestrating cross-border consignments.
Sharing operational details, he said that police teams from CI Amritsar had received specific information that foreign-based individual is in contact with a Pakistan-based drug smuggler, and together, they are operating a drug smuggling network in the state with the help of their Punjab-based associates identified as Maninder Singh and Gurjant Singh.
The information further revealed that both associates had received a narcotics consignment from their handler, and were coming in the area of Village Dhariwal in the area of Ajnala District Amritsar on their i20 car to deliver this consignment to some other party, said the DGP, while adding that acting swiftly, police teams laid Nakas around this place and intercepted the both the suspects and recovered 5 kg heroin from their possession. Further investigations are ongoing, he added.
In this regard, a case FIR No. 18 dated 21-03-2026 has been registered under section 21, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.
