Chandigarh, April 16 (IANS) In a major crackdown against cross-border drug smuggling, Punjab Police’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) arrested a key drug trafficker linked to a Pakistan-based smuggler after recovering 3.105 kg heroin and two .32 bore country-made pistols along with 37 cartridges and two magazines from his possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said here on Wednesday.
The accused has been identified as Jobanjit Singh, alias Joban, a resident of Kotli Sur Singh village in Tarn Taran district. The accused has a criminal history.
DGP Yadav said preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused had been receiving heroin consignments via drones from a Pakistan-based smugglers.
The DGP said further investigations are ongoing to establish the backward and forward linkages to dismantle the entire network and more arrests are likely in coming days.
Sharing operation details, Additional Director General of Police (ANTF) Nilabh Kishore said police teams of ANTF Border Range Amritsar had received a reliable input that accused Jobanjit Singh is notorious drug smuggler and has recently retrieved a drug and weapon consignment from across the border.
Acting swiftly, police teams led by Superintendent of Police (SP) Gurpreet Singh launched an intel-based operation and apprehended accused Jobanjit Singh from his house, he added.
Meanwhile, with the war against drugs “Yudh Nashian Virudh” to eradicate drug menace from state entered 46th day on Tuesday, the police arrested 97 drug smugglers and recovered 1.6 kg heroin and Rs 29,790 drug money from their possession.
With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached to 6,138 in 46 days. Notably, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has asked the Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendent of Police to make Punjab drug free state.
The government has also constituted a five-member Cabinet Sub-Committee led by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema to monitor the war against drugs.
–IANS
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