Punjab Police busts narco-arms, narco-hawala modules, 9 held

Punjab Police said on Friday it has busted an international narco-arms module and an inter-state narco-hawala syndicate with the arrest of nine people, including two Karnataka residents.

Police recovered 1.15 kg heroin, five sophisticated pistols and Rs 9.7 lakh cash from their possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.

DGP Yadav said two separate first information reports (FIRs) have been registered at Police Stations Sadar and Islamabad in Amritsar. Further investigation is underway to trace forward and backward linkages to unearth the whole smuggling module, he said.

Sharing details of the first operation, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said in an intelligence-led operation, police teams arrested three individuals -”- Jaspreet, Harpreet and Tejbir -- involved in narco-arms module and recovered five sophisticated pistols, including three 9mm pistols, two .30 bore Chinese pistols, along with cartridges from their possession.

He said preliminary investigations revealed that Jaspreet and Harpreet had recently returned from Malaysia and were in touch with their handlers in Malaysia and Pakistan.

They came to the Amritsar area with their friend Tejbir and on instructions of their handlers and picked up a weapon and drugs consignment, he said, while adding that the weapons were meant to further deliver to criminal elements to carry out crimes.

A case was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Arms Act at Police Station Sadar in Amritsar.

In another operation, Bhullar said police arrested six accused involved in a narco-hawala network with links to Delhi, Karnataka, and Dubai, and recovered Rs 9.7 lakh cash and 1.15 kg heroin from their possession.

He said they were part of an organised hawala syndicate being operated by Abdul Rehman and Pardeep Pintu, who routed drug proceeds to Dubai through illegal channels.

Further investigation is on and more arrests and recoveries are likely in coming days, he added. Those arrested have been identified as Jaspreet Singh Chauhan alias Kalu (26) of Sokha Bhaini village in Barnala, Harpreet Singh alias Happy (25) of Bholoke village in Gurdaspur, Tejbir Singh alias Teji (21) of Basti Lal Singh village in Tarn Taran, Danish alias Gaggu (19) of Dashmesh Nagar in Amritsar, Saloni (19) of Kot Khalsa in Amritsar, Jobanpreet Singh alias Joban (28) of Meharbanpura village in Amritsar, Kulwinder Singh (28) of Kakka village in Ludhiana, Abdul Rehman (45) and Pardeep Pintu (44), both residents of Karnataka.

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