KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
Police arrested three persons along with 45 gram of heroin in separate incidents in Jalandhar. The arrestees, identified as Satnam Singh alias Satta (21), and mother-son duo Kishan Singh (21) and Paramjit Kaur (35), are residents of villages falling under the Subhanpur police station in Kapurthala district. A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act was registered against them.
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested two drug peddlers and recovered 402 gm of heroin from their possession in Ludhiana.
The Jalandhar Police team that had gone to Latianwal village in Kapurthala district to carry out a raid was attacked by villagers. Latianwal is among the several villages falling in the notorious drug belt of Kapurthala. Kapurthala SSP Satinder Singh said that “We have booked 11 persons of the village and raids are on to arrest them. As of now, they are absconding.”
One person, identified as Bhalwan Singh was arrested along with five kilograms of heroin and two pistols and 10 live cartridges at the Amritsar-Jalandhar national highway in Amritsar. The accused was produced in a local court which sent him to police remand till January 6.
21 more villages in Punjab’s Nawanshahr district were declared drug-free on the eve on the New Year, while 50 of total 71 villages were declared drug-free a few months back. Nawanshahr district of the Doaba region has taken a lead in the crusade against drugs launched by the state government, while Hoshiarpur district is in the second in the list with 37 villages. According to the government information, Nawanshahr has identified 71 villages out of its total 466 villages (15 per cent) which are totally drug-free and there was no case registered under NDPS Act and also no drug recovery was made from any resident of such villages. Additionally, there are no addicts in these villages, as per the government’s information.
BSF seized 10 packets containing 5.19 kg heroin which was buried in an agricultural field near the fence at Ghatti Maste border out post (BoP) under Ferozepur sector in Punjab. However, suspected smugglers managed to flee the spot taking advantage of dense fog.
The STF’s Ludhiana unit arrested a 34-year-old man, Sanjay Das along with 230 gm heroin - worth Rs 1.25 crore at a checkpoint near Transport Nagar in Ludhiana.
Police arrested five drug peddlers and recovered 1.5 kg heroin and 4.5 kg opium from them in three different cases in Jalandhar district. Cases under the NDPS Act were registered against the accused at Kartarpur, Nakodar Sadar and Bhogpur police stations.
Due to the foggy weather conditions in Punjab, BSF has intensified its patrolling along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab to prevent activities of sneaking narcotics, arms and ammunition into the Indian territory.
The NIA filed a charge sheet in the special NIA court at Mohali against 11 accused including six absconders, and four companies in the case related to the seizure of 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of mixed narcotics on June 29 at Integrated Check Post (ICP), Attari. The investigation has established that the accused formed a terrorist gang to smuggle narcotics into India.
Jalandhar district rural Police arrested two drug peddlers and recovered a pistol, two live cartridges and 70,000 liters of alcohol from their possession near power station in Kartarpur .
A drug peddler, identified as Lalit Kumar was arrested along with 18 gm heroin at a naka set up near Logarh T-point in Zirakpur in Mohali District.
Police arrested a drug peddler, identified as Lakhwinder Singh alias Lucky and recovered 5 gm of heroin from his possession during a routine checking at Basant Avenue in Ludhiana.
Police arrested a Rajasthan resident, identified as Kishan Lal along with 180kg poppy husk and 1kg opium from the Jandiala-Jalandhar road in Jalandhar. The truck carrying the contraband was also impounded. According to Police, the contraband was meant to be delivered in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Jagraon.
Police, on the basis of disclosure made by a man arrested for drug peddling last week, recovered 13.72 kg heroin buried in a field across the barbed fence on the India-Pakistan border near Daoke village in Amritsar District. The accused, Samsher Singh, alias Shera, was arrested with 7.5 kg heroin and ₹28 lakh drug money in Ajnala’s Poonga village on September 13. Police had also recovered 1kg heroin from at Bhaini Rajpootan on Shera’s disclosure on September 15. The contraband was pushed into the Indian territory by Pakistan-based smugglers, the Police said.
Police arrested a Tanzanian woman, identified as Rehma and recovered 2 kg heroin from her at Dainwind village in Kapurthala of Kapurthala District. Kapurthala SSP, Satinder Singh said that she was visiting India on a business visa and living with her relatives. She had earlier supplied drugs five times in other cities in Punjab and was caught supplying drugs in Kapurthala District.
One person, identified as Shamsher Singh Shera was arrested along with a cache of 7.5 kg of heroin and INR 28 lakh drug money from Amritsar in Punjab. SPS Parmar,IG, Border Range said that "We are interrogating the cross-border angle in this matter. We are also probing into the forward and backward linkages of the matter".
The Special Task Force (STF) Ludhiana Ferozepur range arrested a drug peddler, identified as Ravinder Singh Nikka along with 1kg heroin and 100 gm of expensive ice drug from Chimney road in Shimlapuri in Ludhiana District.
In a joint operation conducted by the health officials and the district administration, an illegal drug de-addiction centre, which was running under the name of ‘Khalsa Welfare Foundation’, was busted in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib District. The authorities rescued as many as 14 addicts being allegedly tortured in the centre.
The BSF team deployed along the border near the Sutlej river had successfully seized eight kilograms of heroin and 55 grams of opium. Since the rise of water level in the Sutlej river in Punjab's Ferozepur, smugglers from Pakistan have been continuously sending narcotics by turning the rough flow of the river into their advantage.
The Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) Amritsar Sub-Zone said that it had busted an international network of drug trafficking operating in Delhi, Punjab and Mumbai with linkages in Australia and Canada.
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested a gangster, Jatinder Kumar Chintu, and his accomplice, Shiv Kumar along with 500-grams heroin at Kakowal road in Ludhiana District of Punjab. Inspector Harbans Singh, in-charge STF Ludhiana Range said that the accused had confessed their involvement in procuring and selling heroin among his customers from different areas of Amritsar, Jammu and Delhi.
Mohali Police arrested a Nigerian couple, identified as Makaogu John and Fahe Rechelle from Delhi for supplying drugs to peddlers in Punjab and Haryana. Police recovered 40gm heroin from their possession.
A recent Punjab Government forensic lab report revealed that 78 out of 134 samples collected in the past 23 months have shown that most of the deaths were caused by drug overdose. Amritsar topped the list of drug overdose deaths reported in the past 24 months.
Police arrested two persons, identified as Vikram Singh (55) and Vikas Kumar (40) and recovered 2.5 kilograms of opium from their possession on Sua Road at Jhande village in the Ludhiana District of Punjab. Police claimed that the suspects were going to supply the opium to their customers.They brought the opium from other states and supplied it to their clients in Punjab and Haryana.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested seven foreigners for allegedly running a clandestine cross-border heroin smuggling racket and seized narcotics tablets worth over INR 1 lakh in a separate case in Punjab.Officials said the drug seizure was affected by NCB officials of Chandigarh zone as the roots of the case are in Punjab.The drug is heavily trafficked to Bangladesh and Indian agencies are on their guard to check its transport across the border.
The Fatehgarh Sahib District Police in Punjab arrested an African national, identified as Splair Sunde alias Emeka Ekechifor supplying drugs from Vipan Garden near Uttam Nagar in New Delhi. SSP Amneet Kondal said the anti-narcotic cell of the district police had recently recovered 1-kilogram heroin from one Jaswinder Singh alias Toni of Mandi Gobindgarh during a special checking. During the interrogation, Jaswinder Singh revealed the name of Nigerian citizen Splair Sunde who was supplying heroin and cocaine to him. Based on this information, the special team was sent to nab Ekechi to Delhi where he was arrested along with the narcotic.
According to official figures, an average of three drug overdose deaths occurred in a month in Punjab between April 2017 and July 9, 2019. The number can, however, be much higher as viscera samples are sent to the laboratory for examination only when a police case is registered. The state government’s forensic laboratory received viscera samples of 134 people suspected to have died of drug overdose during the period. Experts found traces of drugs in 78 cases while in 14 samples pesticide was found. Morphine, an opiate pain reliever, is the most commonly used intoxicant in Punjab and accounts for over 88 % of overdose deaths reported in last 23 months. As heroin is a derivative of morphine, the presence of the drug indicates that the individuals were either consuming heroin or taking morphine directly. Maximum overdose deaths were reported in Amritsar (15), followed by Hoshiarpur (11). Ludhiana recorded 8 deaths, Ferozepur and Jalandhar had five deaths each and Bathinda and Gurdaspur accounted four each.
A woman was arrested with 4,000 habit-forming tablets and five grams of Heroin from Ubhawal road Sangrur District.
BSF arrested an Indian smuggler Harjinder Singh alias Jinder from Mohammadi Wala border outpost in Ferozepur District. A magazine, 31 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the arrestee. Moreover, 16 kilo grams of heroin was recovered from the arrestee. He was arrested by BSF while he was coming back from the Pakistani side by swimming across the Sutlej river.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Chandigarh unit had seized 2.7 kilo gram opium and 6.14 kilo gram Heroin from Ludhiana, Amritsar and Ferozepur in Punjab in two weeks preceding Independence Day (August 15). NCB Director General (DG) Rakesh Asthana stated that they plan to focus n cross border cartels bringing drugs from Afghanistan. Bureau also plan a crackdown on Delhi-Punjab drug network operated by Af-Pak based cartels.
Drug smugglers opened fire at a Police party at Dadial village in Hoshiarpur District. The Police party was conducting a raid when the smugglers fired upon them. One smuggler was arrested while two others escaped. A pistol and 100 grams of intoxicant powder was recovered.
One man was arrested along with one kilo gram of heroin worth INR one Million from Sirhind town in Fatehgarh Sahib District. He reportedly confessed that he brought drugs from Delhi and supplied in the various Districts of Punjab.
A man was arrested for firing at the anti-drug campaign committee member at Kotli Ablu village in Muktasar District. A country made pistol and seven rounds of ammunition were recovered from the arrestee. Initial investigation has reportedly revealed that the arrestee was involved in drug peddling
Two female drug peddlers, Manjit Kaur alias Bitto and Amarjeet Kaur alias Kalo were arrested from Rajgarh village in Ludhiana District and Police seized 850-gram heroin worth over INR 1.5 crore and INR 5,00,000 drug money from their possession.
Son of a Sarpanch (village head), Harwinder Singh was arrested with one kilo gram of opium outside Baghapurana in Moga District.
A teenager who was abducted for ransom was allegedly murdered by drug addicts in Verka in Amritsar District of Punjab. The victim was identified as Prabhkeerat Singh. The perpetrators have been arrested by the Police.
An individual identified as Jagdish Sharma died of an overdose of a synthetic drug at Ahata Badan Singh locality in Moga District.
Special Task Force (STF) arrested head constable Gagandeep, alias Gaggi Khanna and his two accomplices for drug peddling and recovered 785 gram heroin from their possession from an unspecified location. His accomplices have been identified as Amandeep Singh, aliasMauli, and Vikas Kumar, alias Lara.
Two drug peddlers were arrested from Sirsa District in separate incidents. A drug peddler identified as Laksham Singh was arrested from Bappa village in Sirsa District with 100 kilo grams of Chura Post. Separately, another drug peddler identified as Vinod Kumar was arrested with 12 kilo grams of Marijuana from an unspecified location in Sirsa District.
Anti-Narcotic Cell team recovered 20 grams of heroin from two drug peddlers, identified as Mohit Kumar and Jitender Singh in Baba Hanuman Singh Chowk in Sirsa District.
A member of anti-drug campaign committee was shot and wounded by drug peddlers at Kotli Ablu in Muktsar District.
Mansa Police conducted extensive searches in houses of 51 people suspected of drug peddling or liquor smuggling in the District. The Police arrested 13 people and registered 11 cases.
According to a report, Punjab is struggling to wean its youth from substance abuse. An estimated 7.2 lakh people in Punjab, out of its around 3-crore population, need treatment for opioid addiction, according to a study by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Over 42 lakh people in Punjab are involved in substance abuse, including opioid, cannabis, alcohol and sedatives, it found. The figures on substance abuse in Punjab are stark. Punjab Police have arrested 34,443 persons in a total of 28,214 FIRs registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act since April 2017.‘At present, 51% of the total 23,033 prisoners in 24 jails of Punjab are undertrials or convicts in NDPS Act cases.As per official figures, there have been 134 drug overdose deaths since 2017 to date and around 4,000 viscera samples, including those of suspected drug overdose deaths, are pending with Punjab’s only functional chemical examining laboratory in Kharar.
An elderly man identified as Amar Singh was shot and wounded when drug peddlers selectively shot at some houses in Shamkhera in Muktsar District. Police has registered a case against eight people. However, no arrest has been made so far.
Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa accepted in the State Legislative Assembly that drugs and mobile phones were being smuggled into prisons in the State. The Minister informed the assembly that his department was taking this "seriously" and seized 576 cellphones from various jails and suspended 20 jail staffers in six months. Six jail employees of the Patiala jail have been dismissed and Ferozpur jail superintendent has been demoted to the post of deputy jail superintendent, said the Minister.
The recent seizures of over 1,100 kg of heroin in the Indian subcontinent have left the investigating agencies worried about a spurt in the activities of Pakistan-based drug-trafficking syndicates in the region. A case in point is the seizure by the Customs at the Attari Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Amritsar District of Punjab in June of 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of other drugs. They had been declared rock salt. The alleged kingpin, Tariq Ahmed Lone of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested, along with importer Gurpinder Singh. “The consignment was booked in the name of Global Vision Impex, a front for Pakistan’s ISI, in Lahore,” the official said.
In a joint operation, Ludhiana Special Task Force (STF) and Ludhiana Rural Police recovered over 4.5-kilogram heroin, worth crores in the international market, at Mamdot in Ferozepur District of Punjab near the India-Pakistan border.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), in connection with the narcotics terror case in Amritsar in Punjab, visited the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari-Wagah border between India and Pakistan. A team formed of NIA officials, Customs officers and Punjab Police interrogated the importers at the ICP and asked for the list which contained the list of the goods which are being transported from across the border.
The Special Task Force (STF) of Punjab Police recovered about 10 lakh tramadol tablets from Bathinda in Bathinda District.The opioid-based tablets are a schedule H drug under the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act and used as a pain-killer. According to the reports, The kingpin, Pradeep Goyal, had supplied about 70 lakh tablets in the past few months.