Punjab Police expose Pak links in powerful nexus of narcotics smuggling, hawala transaction

The Punjab Police probing the drugs trail after the arrest of gangster Sukhpreet Singh alias Budha have traced the links of other gangsters to a powerful nexus leading to Pakistan.

The Punjab Police probing the drugs trail after the arrest of gangster Sukhpreet Singh alias Budha have traced the links of other gangsters to a powerful nexus leading to Pakistan. After the arrest of Budha, the Punjab Police have traced further links of Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga and Gurvinder Singh alias Pehalwan, who were arrested three days ago.

Pakistan sim cards have been recovered from the duo, both residents of village Kot Dharam Chand village in Taran Taran district, according to a police spokesperson. The accused were arrested in a joint operation of the Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) and SAS Nagar Police, along with 1 kg heroin and fake Indian currencies, the spokesperson added.

The investigations into the racket are led by DSP Bikram Brar under the supervision of Gurmeet Chauhan, AIG, SSOC and RN Dhoke, ADGP, IS. They had been wanted by Directorate Revenue Intelligence, Rajasthan Police and Punjab Police in cases related to receiving huge consignments of heroin from Pakistan.

The spokesman said that Jagga and Pehalwan had evaded arrest for the past five years by operating their own Dhillon Transport company with a route spanning New Delhi to Madhya Pradesh. They had reportedly set up their own empire with the drug money and had purchased a new house at Makhu district in Ferozepur, along with five new trucks bought from New Delhi.

The duo had also purchased about four acres of agricultural land at Kot Dharam Chand village. Investigations have revealed huge money transactions in their bank accounts, said the spokesperson, adding that the initial interrogation of the men had received that they received drug money transferred by Pakistan dealers through Hawala.

Jagga had been involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin since 2008 when he first started using Pakistan sim cards too. He came in contact with Pehalwan the same year, and later connected with Abad Ali alias Baadli of Pakistan.

Jagga received most of his drug consignments from Pakistan through the Ravi river and from the fencing in the plastic tubes. The drug money was transferred to Pakistan dealers through Hawala. After his arrested twice in NDPS cases, Jagga started using WhatsApp on an international number.

He was initially arrested in a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) case of 13kg heroin registered in the year 2009. He was convicted to 10 years imprisonment in 2011 in this case but jumped the parole in 2014. He was again arrested by DRI in a 42kg heroin case in January 2015. He fled from police custody during his court appearance at Tarn Taran in this case in October 2015 and was absconding since then.

Incidentally, Gurdev Singh, father of Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga was also convicted for 11 years imprisonment in a drug case of 2005. He got parole and jumped the parole in 2014 and is still absconding. Pehalwan, a cousin of Jagga, had been absconding since 2014 in a case of 10 kg heroin seizure. To evade arrest, he had changed his appearance and had started tying a turban. (ANI)

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