Punjab police busts smuggling network; 5 kg heroin seized

Punjab Police on Sunday claimed to have busted a recently developed Pakistan-Mumbai trans-border heroin smuggling network funnelling consignments to Mumbai with the arrest of five people, including a BSF constable responsible for allowing of 163 kg heroin to cross the international border in Abohar sector.

 Five kg heroin, two cars, Pak SIM card and `68 lakh cash have been seized so far. Pak drug lord Bhola was sending the trans-border consignments, said the police on Sunday.

Other than 25-year-old BSF constable Harpartap Singh, posted at BoP SS Wala in Abohar Sector, those arrested include Harbir Singh alias Bhola, Nachhatar Singh alias Satta — both from Amritsar district, Buta Singh, and Gurbachan Singh — both from Tarn Taran district.Police claim to have seized Rs68 lakh cash from the house of Harpartap Singh besides a Maruti Swift car, Hyundai i20 car, one Pak SIM card, Indian mobile handsets and SIM cards and five kg heroin.

A case under sections 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered in police station Sadar Jalalabad and the entire heroin smuggling network is being investigated under the supervision of, DIG Ferozepur Range Amar Singh Chahal and Fazilka SSP Swapan Sharma, stated a press note issued by Bathinda Zone IG.

Investigations have revealed that the smuggling module was formed in April 2015 when Harpartap Singh went to his native village Jasraon during his leave where he met one Nachhatar Singh alias Satta belonging to adjoining village Hashimpura. Satta is a member of the smuggling module controlled by Kulwinder Singh and he roped in Harpartap Singh in the smuggling racket, it added.

It was decided that the module would use the services of Harpartap Singh for effecting trans-border crossings of heroin consignments at the present place of posting of Harpartap Singh at SS Wala BoP in Abohar Sector as it was considered relatively easier to cross the border here due to thick forests.Satta arranged a meeting between Harpartap Singh and smuggler Kulwinder Singh where it was decided that Harpartap would be paid Rs 70,000 for per kg of heroin for facilitating trans-border crossings of heroin consignments.

Kulwinder handed over a Pak SIM card to Harpartap Singh and apprised him that Pak drug lord Bhola would establish contact with him. Pak SIM card was provided to Harpartap to enable him to directly liaison with Pak drug lord and co-ordinate the delivery of heroin consignments.After return of Harpartap from leave, he established contact with Pak drug lord Bhola using Pak SIM card. “On international border, for a range of a few kms, Pak SIM cards work inside Indian territory and vice-versa due to location of mobile towers near the border. After co-ordinating with Pak drug lord Bhola, Harpartap facilitated three crossings of heroin consignments across the international border in the area of BoP SS Wala,” read the press statement.

According to the press release, 28 kg heroin was delivered on May 22, 2015, 26 kg on May 28, 2015 and 69 kg and two pistols were delivered on June 12, 2015.Kulwinder module, after collecting heroin consignments would deliver them to “end-recipients” based in Mumbai through cut-offs in Delhi. Deliveries would be made in Delhi. Along with Kulwinder, his associates Buta Singh and Gurbachan alias Bittu would retrieve the consignments and make further deliveries.

later, Kulwinder module became silent as it had found that operations had become difficult due to police pressure. The module had kept “reserve stock” of heroin to sell it later at higher rates considering that heroin rates would increase due to its unavailability. This “reserve stock” of heroin has been seized by the Punjab Police from the module.

 “Harpartap became restive as his tenure on BoP was limited and coming to an end due to BSF’s policy of rotating personnel on sensitive duties. Since Kulwinder module had become silent, Harpartap directly contacted Pak drug lord Bhola asking him to establish his contact with another Indian smuggler capable of retrieving heroin consignments and that is how he came in contact with Indian smuggler Balraj Singh alias Raju,” read the press release.

Raju had recently been released on bail in a case of seizure of 12 kg heroin and Rs 16 lakh fake currency by the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) in January 2012.

After establishing contact with Balraj alias Raju, Harpartap co-ordinated and facilitated crossing of one trans-border heroin consignment of 40 kg on June 28, 2015 which was retrieved by Balraj and his associates Kaka and Harbir alias Bhola. “They were in advanced stage of effecting another trans-border crossing when the module was busted. The ‘end-recipients’ of this consignment are not yet revealed in the investigations. However, it is understood that the end-recipients are located outside Punjab,” it added.

Harpartap would oversee retrieval of consignments by couriers of Indian smugglers Kulwinder and Balraj after ensuring the safe crossing.The smugglers were quite regular in making payments to Harpartap at the rate of Rs 70,000 per kg. A total sum of Rs1.14 crore was received by Harpartap for facilitating trans-border crossing of heroin consignments totalling 163 kg, out of which 68 lakhs have been recovered so far.

Punjab Police have claimed that they are working on the leads so as to completely unravel and expose this international heroin trafficking network in an end-to-end manner by arresting all persons figuring in the forward and backward linkages.Police parties have been dispatched to arrest Kulwinder Singh, Balraj Singh alias Raju, the “end-recipients” and other persons figuring in the network.