105 kg heroin, six weapons confiscated in Baba Bakala

With the arrest of two associates of Turkey-based drug smuggler Navpreet Singh aka Nav Bhullar, the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of Punjab Police has made one of the biggest seizures of heroin during a massive operation in Baba Bakala area here on Saturday night.

It confiscated 105 kg of heroin in addition to a huge quantity of scheduled drugs, including 31.93 kg Caffeine Anhydrous and 17 kg dextromethorphan (DMR) which is used for multiplying the quantity of contraband four times.

Apart from these, the police also seized five foreign-made pistols and a country made pistol (desi katta) from the spot.

Those arrested have been identified as Navjot Singh, a resident of Guru Tegh Bahadur Colony in Baba Bakala, Amritsar, and Lovepreet Kumar, a resident of Kala Sanghian in Kapurthala. The police have got three-day police custody of two drug peddlers. Lovepreet Singh was doing IELTS while Navjot works as a photographer. According to the police, they had been in illegal drug trade for past three months. It is being suspected that the contraband was smuggled through the riverine belt along the Indo-Pak border.

Punjab Police Director General Gaurav Yadav said that CI got a tip-off that Nav Bhullar has been operating a Pakistan-backed cross-border smuggling racket using his associates living in a rented accommodation at a colony on Lady Road in Baba Bakala.

“An intelligence-led operation launched under the supervision of DSP CI Balbir Singh in the area of Baba Bakala led to the arrest of Navjot Singh and Lovepreet Kumar. It recovered 7 kg heroin from the car in which they were travelling,” he said.

Following their disclosure statement, 50 policemen raided their rented accommodation and recovered the remaining 98 kg heroin along with weapons, Caffeine Anhydrous and DMR. The route of smuggling the narcotic consignment is being investigated, Gaurav Yadav said.

“Apparently, the accused were also using a water route for smuggling of narcotics and weapons from Pakistan as the police teams also seized big rubber tubes from the spot,” he said.

Balbir Singh, DSP Counter Intelligence, said that the duo arrested in the case did not have any previous record. The Pakistan-based smugglers used to deliver the contraband to them and they used to stash it in the house.

Further investigations are on to establish backward and forward linkages in this case and police teams are on the hunt to arrest more criminals involved in the drug cartel.

An FIR under Section 21, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act and Section 25 of the Arms Act was registered at Station State Special Operations Cell.

Meanwhile, cops who were part of the raiding team had a narrow escape Saturday night when a man in an inebriated condition drove his SUV into the police vehicles stationed on the roadside during the raid. The miscreant turned out to be a policeman.