One BSF constable among three arrested in drug racket

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 2

Punjab Police said the arrested a constable of the Border Security Force and two suspected smugglers for cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons.

Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta identified the suspects as Surmail Singh, Gurjant Singh and BSF constable Rajendra Prashad. Prashad, Gupta said, was from Rajasthan’s Ganga Nagar district and was posted along the Indo-Pak in Tarn Taran.

The officer said that Jalandhar Police acted on a tip they received and arrested the two suspected smugglers while they were on their way back from Delhi. Police found 25 grammes of drugs in their car, and further questioning led them to a .30 Bore Pistol (Made in China) with 5 live rounds and Rs 24.5 lakh as well as 35 gm of heroin.

Punjab’s DGP Dunkar Gupta said police were now trying to get Satnam Singh, the man they claimed was the kingpin of this racket, from Muscat, Oman. Singh—a declared proclaimed offender in two of five cases of smuggling that he faces—is believed to have been working closely with Pakistan-based smugglers for smuggling of heroin and weapons across the border.

Police said the kingpin, Satnam Singh, who also goes by the Satta, used a fake passport and an Aadhaar card under an assumed name, Gurmeet Singh, to flee to Oman. He is also believed to have channelled the drug money into buying property in the name of a relative at Amritsar’s Sandhu Colony. That property has now been sealed, Gupta said. 

Police also arrested Prashad from his village, Rawala Mandi, while he was on leave. He allegedly helped the gang smuggle 17 kg of heroin and two foreign-made pistols into India in May.