Tarn Taran: The Tarn Taran police, in a joint operation with the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), has busted a major racket in trafficking of heroin and recovered 19 kgs of heroin worth Rs. 95 crores in the international market on the disclosure of Rachpal Singh s/o Milkha Singh r/o Ramuwal, PS Tarn Taran, the kingpin of the racket who was in touch with Pak-based smugglers, Indian officials and contacts at the Indian end. A case FIR no. 155 dated 1-10-2013 u/s 21 NDPS Act has been registered in PS Sarhali, district Tarn Taran in this regard an three persons namely Rachpal Singh s/o Milkha Singh r/o village Ramuwal, PS Tarn Taran, Gurwinder Singh s/o Malkiat Singh r/o village Ramuwal, PS Tarn Taran and Gurpreet Singh s/o Sukhwinder Singh r/o village Chuslewar, PS Patti, Tarn Taran have been arrested.
In a recent meeting of all the district SSPs, Police Commissioners and other field officers held by Sh. Sumedh Singh, IPS, Director General of Police, Punjab at Chandigarh clear directions were issued to all field officers to focus on the drug trafficking rackets and expose them completely from end-to-end including the supply end in Pakistan and the receiving end in India, and any intermediaries. Drive against drug trafficking in the state has been an ongoing exercise and all the field officers have been sensitized to be pro-active on this front.
Mr. Rajjit Singh, SSP, Tarn Taran said that the district police, in compliance with instructions of the Director General of Police, had listed out the main smugglers, charted the trafficking routes and has been working in a systematic manner to expose and smash the drug racket, with special focus on high quality drugs like heroin.
He said that the kingpin of the heroin trafficking racket, Rachpal Singh was earlier arrested by the district police. After his arrest, a sustained operation was launched by the district police jointly with the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) which has fructified today with recovery of 19 kgs of heroin and unravelling of the complete racket.
He revealed that during investigations, 19 kgs of heroin was recovered by the district police in village Sarhali and a case FIR No. 155 dated 1-10-2013 u/s 21 NDPS Act has been registered regarding this recovery in PS Sarhali. The preliminary questioning of Rachpal Singh revealed that he was in touch with important Pakistan smugglers for receiving consignments of heroin, including Abad Ali r/o Sharinwala, Lahore and Zulfikar r/o Sehjra, Kasoor who were his main suppliers of heroin. Necessary liaison with central agencies is being done in this regard. Rachpal Singh has further disclosed the main Indian smugglers to whom heroin was being supplied and an operation has been being launched to nab them, he added.
He pointed out that the drug racket led by its kingpin Rachpal Singh had managed to compromise certain low-level officials of the Border Security Force (BSF) who connived in the crossing of consignments across the border. It was informed that Gurwinder Singh, a smuggler of village Ramuwal itself and a member of the drug racket had fixed a meeting with constable Gurpreet Singh of the BSF in village Muglani, near Khadoor Sahib. Upon receipt of this specific information, a trap was laid by a police party of the State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) and smuggler Gurwinder Singh, alongwith constable Gurpreet Singh were nabbed at the RV point today.
He further said that the ouestioning of all the three arrested persons is being conducted for gathering more information on the supply end in Pakistan, possible connivance by other officials on the Indian side, and the Indian smugglers at the receiving end. The arrested persons will be produced in the court where police remand for their further questioning will be sought. Further investigations are ongoing.