Gang of drug smugglers busted, six in police net
A gang of Indian smugglers having links with their counterparts in Pakistan, who used to smuggle heroin from across the international border through a drone, has been busted.
Chhatargarh (Rajasthan) police said today that six suspects who belong to Hanumangarh and Fazilka districts have been arrested in this connection. They have been identified as Mastan Singh of Fatehpur, his son Pragat Singh of Sangria, Hanumangarh; Baldev Singh, Amrik Singh and Harbhajan Singh, all residents of Jodha Bhaini village in Jalalabad; and Mohinder Singh of Muhar Khiva village in Fazilka.
According to the police, a packet of heroin was found during a search after a damaged drone of Pakistani smugglers was found in the Neelkanth post area of the BSF. Around 2.1 kg of heroin was found in the packet, having value of around Rs 10 crore in the international market.
The suspects had reached Neelkanth border post area to take the consignment, but managed to flee without the packet after they came to know of police presence.
Four of these smugglers were caught by the police in Punjab the very next day, who have now been handed over to the Rajasthan Police. The police later arrested two more of their accomplices. All have been remanded in police custody for interrogation after being produced in the court today.
Police sources said a farmer saw a drone lying in the field deep inside the Indian territory. On being informed by him, the police and BSF officials reached the spot. The drone was a big one as it had six-seven cameras, along with sensors. The flying capacity of this China-made drone was found to be 9 km.
On finding the drone, the police, BSF and intelligence agencies conducted a search operation in the entire area and later a packet was found lying in a field, three to four km from the international border. The packet contained two bags of heroin, each containing one kg of heroin. According to police and BSF sources, 2021 and 2022 were written on the white cloth bags. Bashir, whose name was written on the bags in Urdu, is said to be a drug smuggler of Pakistan.
Preliminary investigation indicated that all suspects belong to the same community and had been in touch with each other for a long time.
