In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive to make Punjab a safe and secure state, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has busted a cross-border drug and weapon smuggling cartel with the arrest of 12 persons, including kingpin identified as Manjeet Singh alias Bhola of village Jhanjoti in Ajnala, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Friday.
Other 11 arrested persons have been identified as Aniket Verma of Cheharta, Jobanpreet Singh alias Joban of Cheharta, Babli of Naraingarh in Cheharta, Harpreet Singh alias Happy of Guru Ki Wadali, Amritpal Singh Alias Ansh of Naraingarh in Cheharta, Reshma of Kartar Nagar in Cheharta, Harshpreet Singh alias Harman alias Hamma of village Thanda in Amritsar, Mandeep Singh alias Kaushal alias Joshi of village Fatehpur of Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi of village Fatehpur, Lovepreet Singh alias Jashan of village Fatehpur and Akashdeep Singh alias Arsh of Cheharta.
Police teams have recovered 2.19 Kg Heroin, three sophisticated pistols including two automatic and Rs 2.60 lakh drug money from their possession, besides, impounding their Toyota Fortuner car. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that accused Manjeet alias Bhola, who is a key player, was in direct contact with Pakistan-based smugglers/handlers and was receiving consignments of drugs and weapons from across the border.
Probe revealed that consignments were being dropped at Ramdas and Ajnala border sectors with the help of drones, he added. The DGP said that further investigations are on to establish forward and backward linkages in this case. Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, while addressing a press conference, said that following a reliable input that accused Aniket has been into the drug smuggling business, police teams have successfully apprehended him.
The arrest of Aniket has unearthed the entire network and led to the arrest of kingpin Manjeet alias Bhola and his all the accomplices from different locations, he said, while adding that five of the accused persons have been arrested from Jammu and Kashmir with the help of J&K Police.
The CP said that investigations have also revealed that accused Manjeet alias Bhola was using the house of arrested woman accused Babli, who is an Anganwari worker, to store the consignments and was using his accomplices to distribute further. Further investigations are ongoing to uncover the entire network and more arrests and recoveries are likely in coming days.
In this regard, a case FIR no. 226 dated 24.12.2024 has been registered under sections 21(B), (C)/27-A and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Chheharta in Amritsar.