Patiala: The Punjab Police has today cracked down on another multi-crore international synthetic drug racket with the arrest of three Delhi-based persons. The unveiling of this Delhi-based international drug racket follows close on the heels of neutralizing of the Jagdish Bhola-controlled drug network last month.

Disclosing this here today, Mr. Paramjit Singh Gill, IGP, Patiala Zone said that this important and major break-through in the drive against drug trafficking follows systematic and meticulous investigations by the Punjab  Police with the objective of exposure of drug networks in  a complete and end-to-end manner from source of supply to the distribution network. The Punjab Police had started a two-tier interrogation of drug smugglers from October 14 onwards, with the smugglers being questioned firstly by the district police, followed by sustained interrogation by officials of the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) in theJointInterrogationCenteratAmritsar. So far, over 100 smugglers have been interrogated.

Mr. Gill revealed that the kingpin of the Delhi-based module was one Dev Behl, based in Chander Lok,New Delhiwho came under the scanner of Punjab Police which mounted an intelligence-based operation. Besides, Dev Behl r/o Chander Lok, New Delhi two other persons namely Rakesh Tinku r/o Subhash Nagar, New Delhi and Mohinder r/o Una, Himachal Pradesh (Driver of Dev Behl) have been arrested. While Dev Behl and Rakesh Tinku were today arrested fromDelhi, Mohinder was arrested from Una, HP.

He has a 20-room hotel (Royal Farm) and a marriage palace in HP, and a 8 acre marriage palace (also named Royal Farm) on Karnal road,Delhi, apart from other business interests. Rakesh Tinku was an associate of Dev Behl who worked for him, while Mohinder was the driver of Dev Behl. Rakesh Tinku has a garment export licence inDelhi. Further investigations were ongoing and necessary liaison was being done with theDelhipolice in this regard, he added.