Pak-backed drugs, arms racket busted

Chandigarh, August 2

The Punjab Police have busted yet another Pakistan-backed drugs and weapons smuggling racket with the arrest of two smugglers and a BSF constable, who was posted in Tarn Taran district.

The police are working to get the kingpin, Satnam Singh alias Satta, extradited from Muscat, Oman. Declared a proclaimed offender, Satta used a fake passport to escape to Oman, said DGP Dinkar Gupta, adding that the accused had five cases of smuggling registered against him. Satta’s ill-gotten property, which he purchased in the name of his relative, at Sandhu Colony Amritsar, has been frozen, he said. The Jalandhar (Rural) Police, which busted the racket, recovered a .30-bore pistol, five live rounds and Rs 24.50 lakh from the three accused – Surmail Singh, Gurjant Singh and BSF constable Rajendra Prashad.

Gupta said acting on a tip-off, the Jalandhar (Rural) Police, on July 26, apprehended Surmail and Gurjant, who were coming in a car from Delhi, and recovered 25 gm of heroin from them. During the investigation, both revealed that they were working with Satta, a resident of Naarli village, who had close links with Pakistan-based smugglers. — TNS