KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
Police arrested a drug peddler, identified as Harpreet Singh Happy along with 50g heroin and a pistol of .32 bore with two live cartridges at near Gopala Petrol Pump in Ludhiana district.
Police arrested a Punjab Police Assistant sub-inspector (ASI), Beant Singh and his accomplice, Rajinder Singh with 30-gm heroin at Muktsar in Muktsar district.
Police arrested two drug smugglers, identified as Davinder Singh and Balwinder Singh and recovered 1.5-kg heroin from their possession at a check point near Secha village in Kapurthala district . However, three of their other accomplices managed to flee in their car.
Police froze assets worth Rs 10 crore of two notorious drug smugglers, including Balwinder Singh alias Billa Havelian, from Tarn Taran district. Assets worth over Rs 8 crore were frozen of Billa in Tarn Taran and Mohali districts. He hails from Havelian village near the India-Pakistan border that has gained notoriety in the past few years for cross-border smuggling of drugs. Billa faces FIRs in 15 cases, including that for drug smuggling from Pakistan and attempt to murder charges, in various districts of Punjab. He has been lodged in a Patiala jail after his arrest in August 2019 with 750-gram heroin.
According to reports, a total of 81.84 kg of heroin worth Rs 409.22 crore was seized by law enforcement agencies between March 24, when the lockdown was imposed, and May 31 along the 550-km-long Indo-Pak border in Punjab. Of this, almost 55 kg contraband was recovered in the Ferozepur sector alone during this period.
Police arrested a drug peddler, identified as Nihal Singh Wala and recovered 75 kg of poppy from him in Moga district.
As per the Punjab police records, on an average 39 accused were arrested every day in cases registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, in Punjab in the past three years. Punjab Police also registered an average 31 FIRs per day under the NDPS Act since March 16, 2017 in the state. It reveals that from March 16, 2017, after the new state government took over the charge, a total number of 46,724 accused have been arrested in 37,526 FIRs till June 3, 2020. During this almost 40 months period, the state police have made recovery of a total of over 1,426 kilograms of heroin, over 1,569 kilograms of opium, 1.27 lakh kilograms of poppy husk, over 375 kilograms of charas, over 6,153 kilograms of ganja and over 852 kilograms of bhang. Similarly, over 1.94 lakh injections, 2.79 crore pills and capsules, and 427 kilograms of intoxicant powder has also been seized. There are 180 foreign nationals among those arrested in the last over three years in the NDPS cases. The state police have been able to achieve 68% conviction rate in NDPS cases. The STF police station in Mohali has recorded 100% conviction rate.
Police arrested two persons, identified as Sachin Kumar, and a woman named Jasbir Kaur alias Simty along with 1 kg heroin from Industrial Area in Phase-7 in Mohali in SAS Nagar district. On their interrogation, another person Raghbir Singh, was arrested and recovered 45 grams heroin from him in Mohali.
Police arrested two persons. Identified as Balbir Singh and Gurnam Singh Gogi and recovered 31 kg Poppy Husk from them in Harlalpur village in SAS Nagar district.
Punjab Police along with BSF recovered 4.6 kg heroin and 50-gram opium from near the border out post Ullo Ke in the Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur district.
A team of the Delhi Police arrested the alleged mastermind of the drug smuggling gang from Hoshiarpur in in Hoshiarpur district on the basis of the information given by two Hoshiarpur residents, who were arrested with 12 kg opium in Delhi on May 29.
Police arrested a proclaimed offender (PO), identified as Yakoob Mohammad alias Jagroop along with 273-gram heroin and Rs 50,000 in cash as drug money from Barnala in Barnala district.
Police arrested two persons, a truck driver Amarjeet Singh and his associate Gurpreet Singh along with 120 kg poppy husk and one kg opium in Samrai village near Jandiala in Amritsar district.
Security Force arrested two persons, identified as Ashwani Kumar of Patoia and Ashwani Kumar of Sahora and recovered one kg opium from a special cabin made in their truck in Pathankot district.
Police arrested six persons, including a Nigerian national and recovered 3.5 kg heroin and Rs 1 lakh drug money from them in Chhajjumajra village road in Khararin in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district on May 28. According to police, five men, Parivar Singh, Ravi Verma, Dalvinder Singh, Anjul Sodhi and Neelu were arrested along with 1.3 kg heroin and Rs 1 lakh drug money on May 28 in Punjab. Upon their interrogation, police arrested another drug supplier, a Nigerian national named David, from Delhi and seized 2.2 kg heroin from him on May 31.
The Border Security Force (BSF) seized three plastic bottles of heroin weighing 1.6 kg from the Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur district on May 28. A spokesperson said that the contraband was attempted to be pushed through water channel from Pakistan with the help of water Hyacinth (Jalkumbhi).
Punjab Police busted a drug smuggling racket and arrested one smuggler, identified as Gurlal Singh and recovered 8 kg of heroin from a wheat field which was allegedly buried by him in the border in Tarn Taran district. The drug was buried in the wheat field situated across the barbed wire fence and ahead of the zero line near Rattoke village of Bhikhiwind sub-division on the India-Pakistan border. Besides heroin, Police also recovered 30 gm opium from the border.
A team of Special Task Force (STF) arrested an accused, identified as Partap Singh for smuggling 5.04 kg of heroin from Pakistan, in Ludhiana district. The accused, who was supplying the contraband in ration bags on a motorcycle, was held at a ‘naka’ near Casa Le Baron marriage palace.
A Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) team arrested two drug peddlers, identified as Vishal Singh alias Vicky and Deepak Kumar alias Deepu along with 1.2 kg opium near Chaukiman police post in Jagraon in Ludhiana district.
Police arrested two drug peddlers, identified as Lakhbir Cahand and Gurpreet Singh and recovered six kilograms of opium from their possession near Chak Jandu village Jalandhar district.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently registered over 20 money-laundering cases in connection with the seizure of drugs by various enforcement agencies in Punjab. The findings may be incorporated in the reports to be shared with key Financial Action Task Force (FATF) member nations to highlight the issue of narco-terrorism involving elements from Pakistan. According to the officials, ED is also initiating a probe into the seizure of 532 kg of heroin, worth about Rs 2,700 crore in the international market, and 52 kg of a mixed narcotic substance by the Customs Department at the Integrated Check Post on the Wagah-Attari border on June 29, 2019.
The Border Security Force (BSF) troops recovered 2 kg heroin from near the Shameke border outpost in Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur district. Sources said that the consignment was being smuggled through the water channel with help of two plastic bottles concealed in water hyacinth.
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered more than six kg heroin from Abohar and Ferozepur sectors of Ferozepur district, near the international border in Punjab. According to BSF, the troops recovered 5.56 kg heroin from near the border in Abohar. Similarly, the security forces recovered one kg heroin from the border in Ferozepur sector.
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 1 kg heroin which was concealed in a 1.5 litre plastic bottle from Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur district.
The Barnala police recovered 8.2 kg heroin from Bareke border out post (BOP) across the fence near the Pakistan border in Ferozepur district. The police with support from Border Security Force (BSF) also recovered 15 live cartridges appeared to be manufactured in Pakistan. The consignment was put in various packets which has been recovered on a specific tip off provided by a woman already arrested with a small quantity of heroine few days ago.
The Border Security Force (BSF) thwarted a fresh attempt of the Pakistani smugglers to push drugs and ammunition in to the Indian Territory and seized 1.9 kg heroin, 280-gram opium besides arms and ammunition including one pistol of 9mm calibre, one magazine and five live cartridges near the border at Ferozepur sector of Ferozepur district.
The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) arrested two persons, identified as Rinku Singh and Harbhej Singh and recovered 252 kg poppy husk and 4 kg opium from them during the search of their truck at a naka on the Badrukhan-Ubhawal road in Sangrur district.
During the interrogation of the arrested Ranjit Singh Rana alias Cheeta, the kingpin in the 532-kg heroin seizure case, and his aides by the police, it was revealed that they had transferred Rs 6 crore drug money to the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) during the past five years. According to officials, Cheeta and his accomplices had been in direct link with Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for the smuggling of heroin from across the border, and for transferring the drug money to the terror outfit. They said the gang members had cleared five drug consignments through Attari-Wagah border before the seizure of 532-kg heroin. The officials said the police have also identified around 10 more members of the gang which will be nabbed soon. Some of them are from Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Jalandhar districts, they added. Cheeta was arrested on May 9 by Punjab Police from Begi village in Sirsa district of Haryana with his brother Gagandeep Singh alias Bhola.
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered four packets of containing 1.980 kg of heroin from Amritsar sector in Amritsar district. According to BSF, the vigilant troops of the BSF heard some loud noises of miscreants near the post and challenged them following which, the miscreants fled towards Pakistan Territory. During search of the area, four packets heroin were recovered.
Security Force arrested an absconding drug-peddler, identified as Hapreet Singh alias Sonu Baba and confiscated 280 gm of heroin from him at a checkpoint on the Jhabal road in Amritsar district. He was wanted in connection with seizure of 1 kg heroin on March 18, 2020.
Punjab Police arrested two persons along with around 20,000 narcotic pills near Mandir village in Moga district.
Ludhiana City Police arrested one person, Sukhwinder Singh alias Sonu along with .315 bore country made pistol, 10-gram heroin and two bullets from Ladhowal in Ludhiana district. According to police, the accused was injured in police firing after he allegedly jumped at least six checkpoints.
The Security Forces (SFs), in a joint operation, recovered 7.70 kg heroin worth of Rs 39 crore from near border outpost DT Mall along the Indo-Pakistan border in Ferozepur district.
The chief of Special Task Force (STF), Harpreet Singh Sidhu said that strictness in Punjab has forced the drug peddlers to change the smuggling routes. He said 180 foreign nationals had been arrested in 147 cases registered over three years. Of them, 61 were arrested in 2017, 81 in 2018, 37 in 2019 and one this year. He said the arrests indicated that Delhi had become a major centre from where foreign nationals had been supplying drugs to Punjab. He said since the inception of STF in April 2017, law enforcement agencies had recovered 1,376 kg of heroin, 1,515 kg of opium, 1,24,728 kg of poppy husk, 6,053 kg of ganja and 2,74,33,119 pills/capsules along with crores of rupees of drug money. He stated that the recovery of 464 kg of heroin in 2019 was the highest as compared to the last five years. The STF chief also said owing to enhanced vigil, the smugglers exploited new sea, air and land routes many of which were under the garb of legal trade and commerce.
The district police arrested one woman, identified as Balbir Kaur along with 55 grams of heroin from Ferozepur district which was for the earlier consignment smuggled from Pakistan.
Police busted a major narco-gangster module with the arrest of three persons, allegedly linked to the Attari drug haul, identified as Gurpreet Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Sukhdev Singh from Tarn Taran district on May 12. Police also recovered weapons including a 12 bore double barrel rifle, three .32 bore pistols, a 12-bore pistol and a .315 bore pistol, along with two rounds of .315 bore and two rounds of .32 bore cartridges from them. According to Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta, it was revealed during the interrogation that Gurpreet Singh has been in touch with many noted arms and drug dealers and gangsters. He was in touch with Shubham, a Batala-based gangster, and supplied weapons to his associates in Tarn Taran and Ferozepur areas. Besides, he was also in contact with the key accused of the 532 kg heroin Attari drug haul case. The gang was actively involved in supply of weapons in Harike, Patti and Bhikhiwind areas of Tarn Taran, near Indo-Pak border.
According to the sources, the arrested notorious cross-border drug smuggler Ranjit Singh alias Cheeta had confessed to have made properties worth Rs 5 crore from the illegal drug trade. Police are now trying to identify his properties and taking further steps to attaching the same. During interrogation, Cheeta claimed that he got just 75 kg heroin smuggled from Attari-Wagah land route before the seizure of 532-kg consignment. However, police sources said that as per their information, he had smuggled around four such consignments earlier. Cheeta was living in Sirsa (Haryana) using the fake name of Gora for the past eight months. Earlier, he spent days in religious shrines by changing names when he went into hiding after the country’s biggest seizure of heroin (532 kg) at the Attari border in June 2019.
Punjab Police in a joint operation arrested drug smuggler Ranjit Singh Rana alias Cheeta, who was wanted in connection with a 532-kg heroin haul from Attari last year, his brother Gagandeep alias Gagan and a relative Gurmeet Singh from Sirsa district in Haryana. The arrested persons were running a narco-terror network linked to the slain Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) ‘commander’ Rias Naikoo. Police recovered 1.2 kg poppy husk from Gurmeet's possession. Ranjit, who is wanted in 10 criminal cases, was one of the key links in the network engaged in smuggling of drugs and illegal weapons from across the border. Ranjit Singh and Gagan were handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Punjab Police, while Gurmeet, a resident of Vaidwala village, was arrested by the Sirsa police.
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh warned Pakistan against its ‘persistent attempts’ to spread narco-terrorism in India, asserting that the police force was ‘keeping a close watch’ on anti-national activities across the border even during a crisis. After the arrest of notorious narco-terrorist Ranjit Singh alias Cheeta who acted as a conduit for Pakistan-based terror groups by the NIA, the CM said, "Our eyes are open to what Pakistan is doing." Assuring people that no matter how much the force has been busy with Covid duties, the Punjab CM said, the police was keeping a watch on the borders.
Police arrested two more persons linked to the alleged drug-terror nexus, identified as Ranjit Singh and Jaswant Singh in Kalanaur in Gurdaspur district on May 8. Earlier, Police arrested two accomplices of Hizbul Muzahideen (HM) operative Hilal Ahmad Wagay on May 6. Wagay was an associate of HM commander Riyaz Ahmad Naikoo, who was gunned down in south Kashmir.
Police busted an inter-state drug smugglers gang with the arrest of two persons, identified as Lakhvir Singh and Angrej Singh and recovered 18 kg opium from them at Bidhipur in Jalandhar district.
The Special Task Forces (STFs) of Ludhiana and Jalandhar police arrested a dera head and his three followers after recovering 290 gm heroin from their possession in Jagraon in Ludhiana district. STF officials said that a homeguard jawan, who was deployed in Ludhiana, used to supply drugs to the self-styled godman and the dera head of Rishi Ashram Nirmal Kutiya in Jagraon, identified as Bhagwan Singh Baba and his followers, Shani, Gaurav Kumar and Dharminder Singh.
Police arrested a couple along with 20 gm of heroin and drug money of Rs Five lakh from Phillaur in Jalandhar district.
Punjab police arrested two accomplices of slain Hizbul Muzahideen (HM) commander Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo’s close associate, Hilal Ahmed Wagay from Amritsar. The arrested persons were identified as Bikram Singh and Maninder Singh, both from Amritsar. Police seized 1 kg heroin along with Rs 32 lakh in Indian currency from their possession, unveiling the Pakistan-sponsored conspiracy to smuggle narcotics and weapons into the state, the DGP Dinkar Gupta said. The interrogation of the two accused further revealed that both Bikram and Maninder, along with their cousins Ranjit Singh, Iqbal Singh and Sarwan Singh, dealt in drugs and weapons smuggled from across the border.
The Special Task Force (STF) of Ludhiana police arrested two persons, Amit Sharma and his relative, Rajan Kumar along with 1.6kg heroin, 150gm smack and drug money of Rs 17.5 lakh in Chuharpur Road in Ludhiana district. According to police, Amit’s wife, who is also involved in drug peddling, is at large.
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 6.7 kg heroin which was kept hidden in a field across the barbed fence at the India-Pakistan border in Amritsar. Police earlier, arrested one person, Karam Singh alias Golu who was roped in to clear the consignment, at his residence. The heroin was kept hidden in a tractor’s drawbar.
The Punjab Police’s Special Task Force (STF) recovered 2 kg heroin from the possession of two drug smugglers at Chak Misri Khan village in Amritsar district. The accused were arrested in the night after an encounter in which one of the accused received a bullet injury.
Police arrested three inter-state drug suppliers, identified as Harjot Singh Jot, Jatinder Singh and Balkar Singh and recovered 18 kg opium from their possession at Takhran village near Samrala in Ludhiana district.
Police arrested a woman along with 11gm heroin in Bagrian village in Sangrur district on April 27. After arrest, the woman was taken to Ludhiana jail on April 28 where she was found positive for Covid-19 on April 30.
Two policemen, identified as assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Manjeet Singh and constable Gagandeep Singh were dismissed from service after the recovery of drugs and liquor from them. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said that 15 kg of poppy husk, 250 gm smack and 5 gm heroin and 30 bottles of country-made liquor were recovered from the ASI’s house. The accused had reportedly been letting off peddlers after taking money and drugs from them.