Punjab Police finds 55 kg opium in Jalandhar’s Kartarpur

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, November 9

Punjab Police arrested a suspected smuggler with 55 kg opium at a police checkpoint near Kartarpur in Jalandhar on Tuesday, officials said.

The suspect, whom police identified as Yudhvir Singh alias Yodha from Devidaspur in Amrisar’s Jandiala Guru tehsil, faces criminal charges in several drug smuggling cases, police said.

Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Iqbal Preet Singh Sahot said the suspect was arrested after he was stopped at a checkpoint at Kartarpur-Kishanpura road, but his accomplice, identified as Palwinder Singh alias Sunny---also from Amritsar district---managed to escape.

The suspect is believed to have told investigators that he got the drugs through Navpreet Singh alias Nav, a notorious drug smuggler from Vajir Bhullar village in Beas who is currently living abroad.  Police quoted Yudhvir Singh as claiming that Navpreet Singh ran a drug smuggling operation in the state from abroad, supplying refined drugs, mainly opium and heroin, in Punjab through his aides. Navpreet Singh faces several criminal charges, not only under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act but also for murder. More recently, his name came up in connection with the seizure of 300 kg of heroin by the Delhi Police.

Senior Superintendent of Police Jalandhar Rural Satinder Singh, who oversaw Tuesday’s operation, said police had registered a case under various provisions of the NDPS Act and more recoveries and arrests were likely.