Punjab Police busts international drug racket

Chandigarh: The Punjab Police have busted an international drug trafficking syndicate that used jackets to smuggle heroin into the state.

With the arrest of its two operatives, the officials recovered three half-sleeve jackets stashed with 500 grams of heroin each from their possession, said director general of police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.

Those arrested have been identified as Sukhdeep Singh alias Raja, a resident of Bhana in Faridkot, and Krishan, a resident of Ajaib in Rohtak. Apart from recovering 1.5kg heroin, the teams have also impounded their white-coloured Hyundai Aura car, in which they smuggled narcotics using it as a taxi.

Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that these drug consignments were bought from an Afghan national based in Delhi, exposing their network with international drug cartels and their clever tactics of hiding heroin in jackets to evade detection. During the initial interrogation, they disclosed that they had smuggled four consignments of heroin in connivance with Kotkapura-based notorious drug smuggler identified as Lakhwinder Singh in the last two months, and the recent 10kg of heroin was bought in the middle of September which was delivered in Moga.

Facing at least 10 cases of the NDPS Act, Lakhwinder is said to be the key person behind this module, who has been managing the entire drug network. The DGP said that the police teams are on a

manhunt to nab him.

Further investigations are on to establish backward and forward links in this case.