13-kg heroin seized, 2 held in Punjab's Tarn Taran

He said with the arrest of the two men, the nexus between drug smugglers operating in Punjab and their handlers in Pakistan has been exposed. Specific information was received by Tarn Taran police about Jora Singh after which his activities were monitored.

Punjab Police on Thursday nabbed two smugglers in Khem Karan sector of Tarn Taran and seized 13-kg heroin from them, officials said. Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta said the smugglers, identified as Jora Singh and Ranjit Singh, were planning to deliver the consignment to drug suppliers across the state. He said with the arrest of the two men, the nexus between drug smugglers operating in Punjab and their handlers in Pakistan has been exposed.

Specific information was received by Tarn Taran police about Jora Singh after which his activities were monitored. On bail since March 2020, Jora was also apprehended by security agencies near the international border of India and Pakistan for suspicious activities in August last year. Four FIRs are registered against him for drug smuggling and in these cases a large quantity of narcotic substance was recovered, Gupta said in a statement. Jora Singh had also amassed a number of properties without any legal source of income, he said.

Gupta said the initial investigations revealed that Jora Singh, along with his two associates Pawandeep Singh and Ranjit Singh, was in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers and was trying to procure a heroin consignment from the Pakistan into Tarn Taran. During investigations, Ranjit admitted that he had organized the delivery of a heroin consignment that was scheduled to arrive in the area of Rattoke border outpost from Pakistan, the DGP said. The Border Security Force was contacted immediately and and the heroin recovery was made from about 50-metre from the zero line of Indo-Pak border, he said.