Drone module: Cops probing into ‘clients’ of arrested duo

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 22

Day after the arrest of two Delhi residents for allegedly assembling and supplying drone to alleged drug peddlers Lakhbir Singh and Bachittar Singh, the Amritsar rural police has been probing their clients who had procured drones from them in the past.

The police had arrested Lucky Dhawan of Janakpuri and Baldev Singh of Meharganj in Delhi. As per investigations, they were involved in assembling and selling of the drones without any authorisation and documentation required under DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) norms.

So far, the police have recovered four drones, drone hardware and five mobile phones besides other documents from them. According to the officials, Baldev used to procure the drone components from e-commerce sites and later assembled and sold these. They had sold the heavy-duty quadcopter to Lakhbir Singh and Bachittar Singh for Rs4 lakhs.

The police sources privy to the investigations revealed that they were dissecting that if they had sold the drones to some other smugglers in the past. Both Lucky Dhawan and Baldev Singh would be produced before a court tomorrow after the expiry of police remand. The police would seek extension of their remand for further probing.

Till now, eight persons have been arrested, including four drug peddlers, lodged in Amritsar Central Jail in the case. The police have been raiding different parts of the border belt, especially in Ajnala area on Tuesday. The four smugglers arrested in the case also belonged to this belt.

As per the probe, the four smugglers – Harjit Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Simarjit Singh and Surjit Masih – were in contact with three Pakistan-based smugglers identified as Chisti, Malik and Maqsood. Chisti’s name also figured in previous drone modules busted by the Punjab Police, an official said.