DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

A Amritsar jail warden and two others were arrested as the Punjab Police busted a trans-border narcotic network, officials said on Thursday. Police also recovered 4.50 kg heroin and Rs 4.32 lakh cash from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav.

Jail warden, identified as Gurmej Singh, was allegedly supplying drugs to prisoners lodged in the Central Jail in Amritsar. The two others have been identified as Akashdeep Singh and Satwinderpal Singh alias Satti, both residents of Guru Hargobindpura in Chheharta, Amritsar.

The development came a day after the Amritsar police arrested three drug smugglers and recovered 5 kg heroin and Rs 3.95 lakh cash from their possession. DGP Yadav said preliminary investigations revealed that accused Akashdeep and Satwinderpal were directly in touch with Pakistan-based drug smugglers, who were using drones to transport drugs across the border.

He said during questioning, the accused revealed that they used to supply heroin to jail warden Gurmej Singh to supply it to drug smugglers lodged in the jail.

Technical leads were developed in a professional investigation and an FIR was registered, he said, adding that investigations are ongoing to establish backward and forward linkages in this case.

Sharing operation details, Amritsar Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said police received a reliable input that two brothers had retrieved a huge consignment of narcotics dropped using drone from across the border and concealed it at their residence in Guru Hargobindpura, Chheharta.

Acting swiftly, police laid a trap and arrested both the drug smugglers from a house near Dera Radha Soami, Guru Hargobindpura, Chheharta, Amritsar. Following their revelations regarding connivance of the jail warden, police also arrested Gurmej Singh from Fatehpur area of Amritsar, Bhullar said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the jail warden was acting as a mediator between drug smugglers in the jail.

Further investigations are on to identify the drug smugglers in the jail to whom heroin was being supplied, he said.
(editor@dailyworld.in)