Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Taking advantage of the flood situation in Punjab as water was released from Pong and Bhakra-Nangal dams, smugglers in Pakistan and India have adopted a new strategy, hiring professional swimmers to deliver drug consignments in India through the intricate zigzag path of the Satluj river. The Punjab Police arrested a big fish drug trafficker Malkiat Singh alias Kali, who sent three swimmers to fetch a consignment of 50 kg heroin from Pakistan.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said, “Police teams have also seized 9 kg heroin — a portion of the 50 kg heroin consignment — from his possession,”, adding that 22.5 kg of the heroin had already been recovered by the Punjab Police, taking the total recovery to 31.5 kg. The development came less than a month after the Jalandhar Rural Police had arrested drug smuggler Joga Singh, who swam into the Pakistan jurisdiction to retrieve a heroin consignment, with 8 kg heroin being recovered from him.
Earlier, the SSOC Amritsar had arrested a drug smuggler identified as Shinder Singh after recovering 10 kg heroin and Rs 1.5 lakh from his possession. A woman drug smuggler identified as Amandeep Kaur alias Deep Bhai linked to this module was also arrested with 1 kg heroin, while another drug smuggler Shinderpal alias Pappu was arrested with 500 grams of heroin from Mehatpur.
Yadav, while terming the recovery of this big haul of heroin as the result of vigorous follow-up investigations by the Punjab Police, said that following forward and backwards linkages in this case, Jalandhar Rural Police have arrested the accused drug trafficker Malkiat Kali, who is a resident of Tendi Wala village in Ferozepur, from near Boparai Canal Bridge near Goraya and recovered the heroin kept in his shoulder bag.
Divulging details, SSP of Jalandhar Rural Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said that Kali revealed that he was in regular touch with a Pakistan-based drug smuggler identified as Haider Ali, who helped him smuggle the heroin consignments to India.
“Malkiat Kali also revealed that he had sent Joga Singh along with two more persons to Pakistan using a riverine route to fetch the 50 kg heroin consignment, which was equally distributed between his party and Joga Singh’s party,” he said, adding that further investigations are on, and police teams are hunting for the remaining drug smugglers involved in this module.
A fresh case has been registered under the NDPS Act at Goraya police station.
Sources said that the swimmers are paid Rs 1 to Rs 2.50 lakh per kg compared to between Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per kg earlier. Drugs have also been dropped through drones by smugglers of the neighboring country. Drug cartels in India and Pakistan have exploited the flood situation in Ferozepur since July 20, making concerted efforts to smuggle contraband through the intricate zigzag path of the Satluj River, which it traverses seven times.
Sources said that some time back a flag meeting was held in which security agencies of India and Pakistan at length discussed the issue of manifold increase in the number of drug trafficking cases. The overflow of the Satluj River had resulted in flooding in over a dozen border villages and the submersion of more than fifteen border outposts (BoPs) of the BSF besides adverse damage to fencing in about 50km along the Indo-Pak border. Thus drug traffickers in Pakistan and India got the opportunity to smuggle significant quantities of drugs by offering enticing incentives to drug couriers based in both countries.
CHANDIGARH: Taking advantage of the flood situation in Punjab as water was released from Pong and Bhakra-Nangal dams, smugglers in Pakistan and India have adopted a new strategy, hiring professional swimmers to deliver drug consignments in India through the intricate zigzag path of the Satluj river. The Punjab Police arrested a big fish drug trafficker Malkiat Singh alias Kali, who sent three swimmers to fetch a consignment of 50 kg heroin from Pakistan.
Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said, “Police teams have also seized 9 kg heroin — a portion of the 50 kg heroin consignment — from his possession,”, adding that 22.5 kg of the heroin had already been recovered by the Punjab Police, taking the total recovery to 31.5 kg. The development came less than a month after the Jalandhar Rural Police had arrested drug smuggler Joga Singh, who swam into the Pakistan jurisdiction to retrieve a heroin consignment, with 8 kg heroin being recovered from him.
Earlier, the SSOC Amritsar had arrested a drug smuggler identified as Shinder Singh after recovering 10 kg heroin and Rs 1.5 lakh from his possession. A woman drug smuggler identified as Amandeep Kaur alias Deep Bhai linked to this module was also arrested with 1 kg heroin, while another drug smuggler Shinderpal alias Pappu was arrested with 500 grams of heroin from Mehatpur.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Yadav, while terming the recovery of this big haul of heroin as the result of vigorous follow-up investigations by the Punjab Police, said that following forward and backwards linkages in this case, Jalandhar Rural Police have arrested the accused drug trafficker Malkiat Kali, who is a resident of Tendi Wala village in Ferozepur, from near Boparai Canal Bridge near Goraya and recovered the heroin kept in his shoulder bag.
Divulging details, SSP of Jalandhar Rural Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said that Kali revealed that he was in regular touch with a Pakistan-based drug smuggler identified as Haider Ali, who helped him smuggle the heroin consignments to India.
“Malkiat Kali also revealed that he had sent Joga Singh along with two more persons to Pakistan using a riverine route to fetch the 50 kg heroin consignment, which was equally distributed between his party and Joga Singh’s party,” he said, adding that further investigations are on, and police teams are hunting for the remaining drug smugglers involved in this module.
A fresh case has been registered under the NDPS Act at Goraya police station.
Sources said that the swimmers are paid Rs 1 to Rs 2.50 lakh per kg compared to between Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 per kg earlier. Drugs have also been dropped through drones by smugglers of the neighboring country. Drug cartels in India and Pakistan have exploited the flood situation in Ferozepur since July 20, making concerted efforts to smuggle contraband through the intricate zigzag path of the Satluj River, which it traverses seven times.
Sources said that some time back a flag meeting was held in which security agencies of India and Pakistan at length discussed the issue of manifold increase in the number of drug trafficking cases. The overflow of the Satluj River had resulted in flooding in over a dozen border villages and the submersion of more than fifteen border outposts (BoPs) of the BSF besides adverse damage to fencing in about 50km along the Indo-Pak border. Thus drug traffickers in Pakistan and India got the opportunity to smuggle significant quantities of drugs by offering enticing incentives to drug couriers based in both countries.
