DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing war against drugs waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police's Anti Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) in a joint operation with a central agency busted a major drug trafficking syndicate with the arrest of 10 persons, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.

Those arrested have been identified as Chandan Sharma, Akash Sharma, Vishal Singh, Arvinder Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Rinku Thapar, Bharat, Divyam, Pratham, and Ankush Bhatti. Police teams have also recovered 1-Kg Heroin, 381 grams Charas, three pistols including one sophisticated Glock pistol along with 62 live cartridges and two empty shells, ?48.7 lakh drug money, 262 grams gold and electronic devices from their possession.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the accused persons were operating the drug network and running operations in Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana. Probe revealed that after smuggling drugs from across the border, the accused persons were sending money to Pak-based drug smugglers via Hawala route, he added.

He said that investigations have been carried out in an advanced manner, utilising technical surveillance and human intelligence, reflecting the ANTF's strategic approach to tackling complex criminal networks. Further investigations are on to establish backward and forward linkages in this case, he said, while adding that more arrests are expected.

Sharing more details, Special DGP ANTF Kuldeep Singh said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused Lovepreet Singh, a resident of Amritsar, was the key person managing the entire drug network of this syndicate and using his vast network of contacts to smuggle drugs and arms across the state.

Police teams have also found a hidden closet at the house of accused Lovepreet, where he used to conceal all the smuggled narcotics and hawala money, besides, using it as a safe shelter for himself, he added.

A case FIR no. 147 dated 20-09-2024 has been registered under sections 20 and 21(c) of the NDPS Act and section 25 of the Arms Act at Police Station ANTF, SAS Nagar.
(editor@dailyworld.in)