Notorious drug smuggler freed by 3 armed bikers in Ferozepur

A three-member police team from Nabha brought the drug smuggler Harbhajan Singh alias Rana from Nabha jail for a court appearance here today.

Three armed bike-borne assailants today managed to free a notorious drug smuggler from the police custody at a roadside 'dhaba' near village Ghall Khurd on Ferozepur-Moga road, police said.

They also opened fire at cops, leaving one of them seriously injured, police said.

A three-member police team from Nabha brought the drug smuggler Harbhajan Singh alias Rana from Nabha jail for a court appearance here today.

After the court proceedings got over while the police team was taking Rana back to Nabha in a police van, they stopped at a 'dhaba' near village Ghall Khurd for having lunch.

At that time, the three motorcycle-borne assailants, purportedly as per pre-planned strategy, suddenly came to the roadside eatery and opened fire at the police team, injuring police head constable Lachman Singh.

Within no time, the assailants took hand-cuffed Rana along with them and fled the spot, police said.

Mukhwinder Singh, SP ( Headquarters), who reached the spot after the incident said that police dispatched teams in various directions to nab the accused.

He said that the police was looking into lapses that might have taken place, leading to the escape of the notorious smuggler.

Lachhman who received two bullet injuries was rushed to Government Medical College in Faridkot.

A police official said Ferozepur police was not informed by its counterparts in Nabha before bringing the smuggler here.

"It is a very casual approach on the part of (Nabha) police keeping in view the fact that Harbhajan was a hardcore criminal," said the police official.

In December 2015, the police had arrested Rana, a resident of village Nihala Khilcha of Ferozepur district, following an intelligence input from Gatti Rajoke area along the Indo-Pakistan border.

At that time, the police had laid a trap to nab him and had recovered 22.5 kg heroin from his possession regarding which a case was registered at Sadar Police Station.

SSP Pritam Singh said that Rana had been booked in several cases under the NDPS Act on earlier occasions also, adding that he was the key conduit of Pakistan based drug operatives.

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