The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of the Punjab Police, with the support of central agencies, has arrested 11 people, including five drug smugglers, three drug hawala money couriers and three hawala traders, and recovered drug money in different foreign currencies amounting to Rs 5.09 crore.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Gaurav Yadav, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, said the arrested drug smugglers have been identified as Harjinder Singh alias Ajay, 26, of Ram Talai in Amritsar, Harmanjit Singh alias Harry, 27, of Guru Nanak Colony in Amritsar, Sagar, 28, of Naraingarh in Chheharta of Amritsar, Lavdeep Singh, 30, alias Lala of Husanpura Kalan in Batala, and Harbhaj Singh, 30, alias Bheja of Kakkar in Amritsar.
The police identified the alleged drug hawala money couriers as Saurav alias Saurav Mahajan, 24, of Joda Phatak in Amritsar, Tanush, 28, of Ghah Mandi Chowk of Amritsar, and Harminder Singh, 28, alias Harry of Damganj in Amritsar.
The alleged hawala traders were identified as Ashok Kumar Sharma, 60, an owner of Phagwara-based Sharma Forex Money Changer, and his accomplices, Rajesh Kumar, 50, of Mutiarpur Mohalla in Phagwara and Amit Bansal alias Sunil, 47, of Sukhchain Nagar in Phagwara.
DGP Yadav said the arrests were made following two months of meticulous investigations and sustained follow-up of backward and forward linkages in the arrest of Harjinder Singh and Harmanjit Singh after recovering 263 grams of heroin and Rs 5.60 lakh drug money from their possession on January 21.
The DGP said that during the investigation in this case, ANTF teams arrested alleged hawala money couriers Mahajan, Tanush and Harminder on the next day, and recovered Rs 47.50 lakh of drug money, besides impounding their Mahindra XUV 300 vehicle. Following the trail of investigations, on January 24, the police arrested two more alleged drug smugglers, identified as Sagar and Lavdeep Singh. DGP Yadav said that Rs 5 lakh of drug money along with an Activa scooter and 160 grams of heroin were recovered from them.
The police said that further investigation into this case revealed the role of an inmate lodged in Central Jail Amritsar, identified as Harbhaj Singh alias Bheja, who emerged as the alleged mastermind of this racket. Harbhaj was found to be in contact with Pakistani drug smuggler Shehbaz from inside the jail, DGP Yadav said, adding that on January 26, the accused was brought on a production warrant from the jail and formally arrested in this case.
Pakistani smuggler Shehbaz, a resident of Burewal village in Narowal district had illegally entered India, and an FIR under relevant sections was registered against him in February 2021, following which, he had remained lodged in Central Jail, Amritsar before his deportation to Pakistan, the police said.
The DGP said that preliminary investigations have revealed that accused Harbhaj and Harmanjit were introduced to Shehbaz when they were lodged together in the Central Jail Amritsar. After his release, the latter allegedly established a link with these individuals via mobile phones to run the drug smuggling business and also involved Harminder in this business, DGP Yadav added.
During interrogation, the arrested accused Harmanjit and Harminder allegedly revealed that they were using the services of Sharma Forex Money Exchanger and Forex Advisor in Phagwara to deposit drug money as per Shehbaz’s instructions, DGP Yadav said, adding that the police teams have nominated the owner Ashok Sharma and his accomplice Sunil in the case and arrested both of them on March 17 and March 18, respectively.
DGP Yadav added that based on technical information, police teams arrested Ashok Sharma’s associate, identified as Rajesh alias Bobby, from his house and recovered Rs 50.50 lakh from his possession.
He said that during the investigation, police teams recovered an additional Rs 36.59 lakh (taking total recovery of Indian currency to Rs 1.45 crore), 2,63,630 Euros, 7,000 US Dollars, 10,020 Canadian Dollars, 27,500 Pounds and 285 Dirhams besides recovering 372 grams gold from different locations. Apart from the Mahindra XUV 300, the police also impounded three more vehicles, including a BMW, a Mahindra Thar Automatic and a Hyundai i10, DGP Yadav added.
The DGP said that the ANTF has also identified illegal properties of this network worth hundreds of crores and the process has been initiated to freeze them under Section 68F of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The probe has also revealed that the network unearthed so far spans from Amritsar to Tarn Taran to Phagwara to Panchkula, he said.
“Police teams have nominated seven more persons in this case and a manhunt is on to nab them,” DGP Yadav added.
Source: The Indian Express
