Investigation by the Punjab Police in narcotics cases following the arrest of a dreaded gangster Sukhpreet Singh Dhaliwal alias Budha has revealed links of the other gangsters to the nexus leading to Pakistan.
Days after the Punjab Police claimed to have arrested 23 criminals and seized 36 weapons on the basis of interrogation of Budha, who was arrested by the Interpol in Armenia some six months back, the Punjab Police on Sunday maintained that the probe into the drugs trail during Budha’s interrogation have exposed further links of Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga (Billa) and Gurvinder Singh alias Pehalwan, who were arrested three days ago, revealing a powerful nexus of the big fish leading to Pakistan links.
The police maintained that Pakistan SIM cards have been recovered from the duo, both residents of Kot Dharam Chand Kalan village of Tarn Taran district.
Billa and Pehlwan, who were arrested in a joint operation of the Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU) and SAS Nagar Police, have been booked under Section 21 of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act at Kharar city police station for possessing one kg heroin.
“The investigations into the racket, in which around two dozen big fish have been apprehended so far, are led by DSP Bikram Brar under the supervision of the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) AIG Gurmeet Chauhan and ADGP RN Dhoke,” said the police spokesperson.
The spokesperson said that the investigations, so far, have revealed that the duo, who had been absconding since 2014-15, had received large quantity of heroin and fake Indian currency from Pakistan.
They had been wanted by the Directorate Revenue Intelligence, Rajasthan Police and Punjab Police in cases related to receiving huge consignments of heroin from Pakistan. Both Jagga and Pehalwan had evaded arrest for the past five years by operating their own Dhillon Transport Company with a route spanning New Delhi to Madhya Pradesh.
They had reportedly set up their own empire with the drug money and had purchased a new house at Makhu in Ferozepur, along with five new trucks bought from New Delhi.
They had also purchased about four acres of agricultural land at Kot Dharam Chand village in Tarn Taran. Investigations have revealed huge money transactions in their bank accounts, said the spokesperson, adding that the initial interrogation of the men revealed that they received drug money transferred by Pakistan dealers through Hawala.
Jagga had been involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin since 2008, when he first started using Pakistan SIM cards too. The same year, he came in contact with Pehalwan, and later connected with Abad Ali alias Baadi of Pakistan.
Jagga received the drug consignments from Jecka Pehalwan and Abad Ali, both Pakistanis, in the area of villages Rajetal and Mahawa drain near Attari border by using Pakistan SIM cards, which were functional in this region. He also used to procure drug consignment from Pak-resident Bodi Lamma, near Fazilka-Ferozepur border.
Spokesperson said that Jagga came in contact with one Malik, resident of Narwad village of Pakistan, in 2015, and had been receiving huge consignments of drugs from Pakistan from him since then.
Jagga received most of his drug consignments from Pakistan through Ravi river and from the fencing in the plastic tubes. He used Alto, Lancer, Swift, Truck and Tata Sumo vehicles of his associate Mahinder Singh alias Minda for transportation the drugs.
In Tata sumo, he had made hidden boxes below the rear seat to conceal the drugs. The drug money was transferred to Pakistan dealers through Hawala.
After he was arrested twice in NDPS cases, Jagga started using WhatsApp on an international number. He was initially arrested in a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) case of 13 kg heroin registered in 2009. He was convicted to 10 years imprisonment in 2011 in this case, but jumped the parole in 2014.
He was again arrested by DRI in a 42 kg heroin case in January 2015. He fled from the police custody during his court appearance at Tarn Taran in this case in October 2015 and was absconding since then.
Incidentally, his father Gurdev Singh was also sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in a drug case in 2005. He got parole and jumped the parole in 2014 and is still absconding.
Pehalwan, a cousin of Jagga, had been absconding since 2014 in a case of 10 kg heroin seizure. To evade arrest, he had changed his appearance and had started tying a turban.