Punjab police recover 36.9kg heroin from fazilka; four held

Amidst the ongoing decisive war against drugs launched on the directions of Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police have arrested four drug smugglers after recovering 35 packets of heroin, weighing 36.9Kg, from their possession in the area of Village Lalo Wali in Fazilka, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Wednesday.

Those arrested have been identified as Manpreet Singh, Jaspal singh alias Gopi, Sukhdev singh and Dyalvinder singh, all residents of District Tarn Taran. The Police have also recovered two sedan cars including white Hyundai Elantra (PB-02-DP-0717) and a silver Honda Civic (PB-63-D-2370), which were used to smuggle drug consignment from Rajasthan.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following reliable inputs about influx of large quantity of heroin from Rajasthan to Punjab, Police teams from Fazilka district carried out operation at Fazilka-Ferozepur road near canal bridge in the area of village Lalo Wali, where these four persons waiting for someone sitting in their cars. After seeing the police party, the accused persons tried to flee from the spot, but, Police teams managed to apprehend them.

“During checking, Police teams have recovered 23 packets of heroin, weighing 24.295 Kg,  kept concealed inside cardboard enclosure of car windows,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav, while adding that another chunk of 12 packets of heroin, weighing 12.620 Kg, was recovered from pinpointed location disclosed by the arrested drug smugglers.

Divulging more details, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ferozepur Range Ranjit Singh Dhillon said that as per preliminary investigations, the accused persons were coming from Rajasthan after retrieving the heroin consignment dropped from across the border using a drone.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Avneet Kaur Sidhu said that further investigations are on to find out more people involved in this module and also the Punjab-based receiver of the consignment. More arrests are expected in the coming days, she said.

Meanwhile, FIR No. 58 dated 12.04.2023 has been registered under sections 21(C), 23, 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Sadar Fazilka.

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