Hawala racket busted; trader, two drug peddlers arrested

PK Jaiswar

Amritsar, February 28

The Amritsar (Rural) police busted yet another hawala racket with the arrest of a grocery trader identified as Raman Kumar, a resident of the Namak Mandi area in the walled city, here today and recovered Rs 45.87 lakh drug money along with a cash counting machine.

Trader’s name figured during interrogation of two drug peddlers arrested with 500 gm of heroin each. They were identified as Roshan Singh, aka Roshi, a resident of Rorawala village, and Gurjit Singh, alias Gopi, a resident of Cheecha village. The Gharinda police had recovered Rs 50,000 drug money from Gurjit Singh.

This is the second hawala racket busted by the rural police in the recent past. A week ago, the police had arrested Rajiv Jain, an import/export businessman along with two other drug peddlers and recovered

Rs 55.90 lakh drug money from them. The racket was being run from Dubai.

Harinder Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), said the police nabbed Roshan Singh on February 24 and recovered 500 gm of heroin from him. His interrogation led the police to Gurjit Singh from whom Roshan had procured the contraband. The police arrested Gurjit and recovered 500 gm of heroin and Rs 50,000 drug money from him.

While investigating the financial trail, the police zeroed in on Raman Kumar who runs a grocery store in the Majith Mandi area. The suspect used to handover drug money to him for further transfer and distribution.

“Raman Kumar was produced in a court and brought on police remand for further interrogation. His backward and forward links are being established to find out where he used to transfer money. His Pakistan’s and Dubai links are also being ascertained,” the SP said.

Sources in the Police Department said with the arrest of Raman Kumar, more traders in the Majith Mandi area, especially those involved in cross border business had come under scanner.