Rs 155-cr heroin seized in Fazilka

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, January 7

The Fazilka police got a shot in the arm today when in a joint operation with Central government agencies and the Border Security Force (BSF) it claimed to have made the biggest-ever haul of over 31 kg of heroin, worth Rs 155 crore in the international market.

While addressing mediapersons here today, Ranjit Singh Dhillon, DIG, Punjab Police, Ferozepur Range, and Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, SSP, Fazilka, said two drug peddlers, including an Army sepoy, posted in Pathankot had been nabbed with the consignment.

The police officers refused to divulge the name of 26-year-old Army sepoy, a resident of Mohmmad Pira village of Fazilka district, for security reasons while his aide has been identified as Parmjeet Singh, alias Pamma, a resident of border Mahalam village, which is notorious for distillation of illicit liquor and drug peddling.

Dhillon and Sidhu said the consignment was smuggled from Pakistan through a plastic pipe on Thursday.

After getting information, the police in a joint operation with Central agencies and the BSF launched a cordon and search operation in border villages, they said.

Police personnel set up a ‘naka’ and intercepted a Hyundai Verna car, they added. “One of the car occupants showed an Indian Army identity card. When the police insisted on checking the vehicle, they fled. Later, the police nabbed the Army man and his aide Paramjeet Singh, alias Pamma, on the Gaganke-Shamshabad border road,” said Dhillon.

On checking the vehicle, the police recovered 29 packets of heroin weighing around 31.02 kg from the car, the police officer added.

Dhillon claimed that during the preliminary investigation, the suspects confessed that they were leaving the border district after retrieving consignment pushed by Pakistani smugglers through border fencing with the help of the plastic pipe.

Dhillon said both the suspects had no track record of smuggling in the past.

KN Tripathi, Commandant, 55 Battalion, BSF, was also present during the press conference. A case has been registered against suspects under Sections 21C, 23 and 29 of the NDPS Act at the Fazilka Sadar police station.

Notably, Fazilka continues to be a hot spot for smuggling of contraband from the neighbouring Pakistan. Recovery of 84 kg of heroin worth Rs 420 crore in a month period in Fazilka district has raised many eyebrows. Earlier, too, in a joint operation on December 3 last month, the Fazilka police and the BSF seized 26.850 kg of heroin from a field close to the International Border at Churiwala Chisti village. It is stated that the Pakistani drone had dropped the contraband.

Again on December 20, the forces recovered 26.450 kg of heroin after a brief encounter with a Pakistani smuggler on the International Border in Fazilka district.

Situated in the South-West corner of Punjab, Fazilka district shares 108 km long boundary with Pakistan. Fazilka district is considered vulnerable as it is surrounded by neighbouring country from three sides that is called a chicken-neck-like situation in the military parlance.

84-kg seizure in month

The police busts trans-border smuggling module. Two including an Army man nabbed. Recovery of 84-kg heroin in one month in border district raises many eyebrows.

#Border Security Force BSF #fazilka #Pakistan