A day after the big haul of 16Kg heroin recovered from Gurdaspur district, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Border Range Mohnish Chawla on Saturday said that following strict vigil at Indo-Pak Border in the state, Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as a new origin for transit of drugs through Punjab.
"The investigations into the 16kg heroin recovery from Gurdaspur revealed that arrested accused persons have used National Highway (connecting Jammu to Punjab) to bring this consignment from neighbouring state Jammu by concealing it in a specially designed compartments in two Toyota Innova Crysta cars," he said, while addressing a virtual Press Conference.
Notably, Gurdaspur district Police had arrested four suspects after recovering 16.80Kg heroin (packed in 16 packets) after intercepting two Innova Crysta cars coming from Jammu side. Those arrested have been identified as Manjinder singh alias Manna (28), Gurdit Singh alias Gitta (35) and Bhola Singh (32), trio residents of village Cheema Kalan in Tarn Taran, and Kuldeep Singh alias Givi alias Keepa (32) of Kazi Kot road in Tarn Taran.
The police have also impounded both Innova Crysta cars bearing registration numbers PB13BF7613 and PB08CX2171. A case has been registered under sections 21C, 27-A, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Dinanagar.
IGP Mohnish Chawla said that the Police have also booked the kingpin of this module identified as Malkit Singh of village Cheema Kalan in Tarn Taran, who had sent his four aides to Jammu to retrieve this 16Kg consignment. Malkit, who had earlier processed such consignments around five times in the past using the same kind of modus operandi, has already been facing three cases under NDPS act, he said, adding that the Police teams are on manhunt to arrest Malkit.
The IGP said that investigation has revealed a modus operandi related to interstate smuggling prevalent in Punjab these days, where kingpin used virtual numbers to communicate with Jammu based Smugglers. “This is the third such case of drug smuggling from Jammu side to Punjab that has come to fore in less than one year wherein smugglers used the same modus operandi,” said IG Border Range.
Pertinently, the Pathankot Police had registered two such cases of heavy recovery of heroin in February this year, when around 12Kg of Heroin was recovered in the jurisdiction of Police Station Sujanpur. Similarly, Amritsar Rural Police had recovered Rs 1.9 crore of drug money along with 21Kg of Heroin from jurisdiction of Police Station Kathunangal in August last year.
Meanwhile, the same kind of modus operandi was also noticed during the investigation of FIR no 76 dated August 16, 2022 registered in Police Station Sadar Gurdaspur where secret cavities were found fabricated in Creta car and Balck Mahindra Thar, allegedly to conceal drugs. The police had arrested three persons in this case and confiscated both the vehicles. However, no recovery was made.