Arrest of murder accused uncovered Pak-sponsored drugs smuggling racket involving BSF constable

Foreign-made weapons, including a 9 mm pistol along with 80 live cartridges (etched with Pakistan Ordinance Factory markings) and two magazines and two live cartridges of 12 bore gun, and Rs 32.30 lakh in drug proceeds were recovered from Constable Sumit Kumar alias Noni, Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta. Jalandhar (rural) police arrested Amanpreet on July 11 in a murder case.

The arrest of a murder accused last week blew the lid off a Pakistan-sponsored drugs and arms smuggling racket, following which three others, including a BSF constable, were held, the Punjab Police said on Monday. The Border Security Force (BSF) constable, Sumit Kumar, is a resident of Punjab's Gurdaspur district. He was posted along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba sector and was apprehended on Sunday, the police said.

Three others – Amanpreet Singh, Simarjit Singh and Manpreet Singh – have also been arrested in the case, they said. Foreign-made weapons, including a 9 mm pistol along with 80 live cartridges (etched with Pakistan Ordinance Factory markings) and two magazines and two live cartridges of 12 bore gun, and Rs 32.30 lakh in drug proceeds were recovered from Constable Sumit Kumar alias Noni, Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta.

Jalandhar (rural) police arrested Amanpreet on July 11 in a murder case. During investigation, he disclosed that he and his brothers were in touch with one Shah Musa from Pakistan for smuggling of narcotics and weapons across the India-Pakistan border, the DGP said in a statement here. Amanpreet told police that he and his brothers came in contact with Shah Musa through Manpreet and a BSF constable posted along the border in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, during the trial of a murder case, Sumit was lodged in Gurdaspur jail, where he had come in contact with Manpreet, according to the statement. Manpreet further introduced Amanpreet, Simarjit and Sukhwant to Sumit. The conspiracy to smuggle drugs and weapons from across the border was hatched in the prison, Gupta said.

Armed with these disclosures, Jalandhar (rural) police arrested Simarjit and Manpreet on Sunday, while Sumit was apprehended in coordination with the BSF, the statement said. DGP Gupta personally took up the matter the BSF director general on Saturday, it said.

The DGP said Sumit told police about his involvement in the smuggling of narcotics and weapons from across the border. In one instance, he is learnt to have facilitated the entry and delivery of 15 packets of heroin across the border fence, the statement said.

He was also involved in the smuggling of 25 packets of heroin and a 9 mm pistol over the border fence on the India-Pakistan border, it said. Sumit kept the pistol for himself after the delivery of heroin to some unidentified persons. He received Rs 39 lakh for the successful receipt of consignments of drugs and weapons, it added.

After getting bail in the murder case, Sumit was posted in Samba sector at a guard tower overlooking the International Border with Pakistan. From there he was constantly in touch with smugglers Manpreet and Sukhwant, the DGP said. They in turn are learnt to have been in contact with Shah Musa in Pakistan, he said.

Gupta said Manpreet and Sukhwant would send to Sumit photos of consignments of drugs and weapons which were expected from Pakistan. Sumit would send photographs of border fencing, screenshots of his location, border pillar number and details of the villages surrounding the area to trans-border smugglers or associates, who in turn used to share the delivery coordinates with the Pakistani smugglers, he said.

The Pakistani smugglers would come at the pre-decided place during Sumit's shift, which was invariably from 9 am to 12 noon. They would throw the consignments over the border fence after the BSF constable would give them a green signal by flashing a torchlight, he added. Sumit would collect the consignment and hide it in the nearby bushes. The following day, he would hand over the consignment as per the directions of his associates, the DGP said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)