Rs 245 cr heroin seized in Amritsar, Bathinda

Sanjeev Singh Bariana and PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Bathinda, January 25 

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) today seized 41 kg of heroin, worth Rs 205 crore in the international market, in Amritsar. The contraband was seized from Bhikhiwind resident Jagdeep Singh. 

His car (PB-02-AU-0222) was intercepted at a bus stand on the Jhabal road. 

A DRI official said Jagdeep was earlier arrested in Harike area in 2009 with 13 kg of heroin. Undergoing a 10-year jail term at the Amritsar Central Jail, he had jumped parole. 

The contraband was delivered to him by an unidentified person at Bhikhiwind. At the time of his arrest, he was on his way to hand it over to another contact in Amritsar. The contraband was concealed in a bag containing cattle feed.

A report from Bathinda                                                     said the counter-intelligence wing of the Punjab Police arrested two smugglers of an international gang, Sukhjinder Singh and Randeep Singh, with heroin worth Rs 40 crore on the Mamdot-Hazara road in Ferozepur district last evening.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Jitender Jain said the two smugglers, who were on a motorcycle, were trailed by a special team as they entered Punjab from the Jama Rakhia Hithad border post at 4 am. 

They were intercepted as they stopped to meet their accomplices at a petrol station at 5 pm. 

They were found carrying eight packets of heroin, that weighed about 8 kg, Rs 2 lakh in cash and three cellphones. Their accomplices, Piara Singh of Khundar Gatti village, Chanan Singh of Lakha Singh Wala and Kala Singh of Nikka Megha village, all in Ferozepur district, fled.

Sukhjinder Singh Sukha, a resident of Shahkot in Jalandhar district, had recently returned from Malaysia after more than four months in jail for not possessing valid documents. Randeep Singh was a resident of Dhanoa Kalan in Amritsar.