Punjab Police on Sunday busted another Pakistanbacked cross-border drug and weapons smuggling racket as part of its crackdown against drug mafia and arrested two smugglers and one BSF constable, posted along the Pakistan border in Tarn Taran district.
Giving this information DGP Dinkar Gupta said, “Police is working to get the kingpin, Satnam Singh @ Satta, extradited from Muscat, Oman, where he had fled after he was declared Proclaimed Offender in two smuggling cases. He used a fake Passport and Aadhar card issued in the name of Gurmeet Singh to escape.”
Adding further he said, the accused had five cases of smuggling registered against him. Satta’s ill-gotten property, which he had purchased using drug money in the name of his family relative Maninder Kaur, at Sandhu Colony Amritsar, has been frozen.
Jalandhar Rural Police, which unearthed the racket, had recovered a .30 Bore Pistol (Made in China), along with 5 live rounds and Rs. 24.50 lakhs as drug money, from the 3 arrested accused – identified as Surmail Singh, Gurjant Singh, and BSF constable Rajendra Prashad r/o Rawala Mandi in Ganga Nagar district of Rajasthan, informed the DGP.
BSF constable was posted at a Border Outpost at Village Chhina in Taran Tarn district.
During the investigation, BSF constable revealed that he was recruited into the drug smuggling racket by Satnam Singh @ Satta, who promised him money in place of his complacency in smuggling of arms and narcotics consignment through his Border Post. Satnam Singh, in connivance with the Rajendra Prashad, Surmail Singh, and Gurjant Singh, was supposed to bring in another consignment of heroin and arms from his Pak based handlers.
The DGP said that he contacted his counterparts in the BSF and Rajasthan, DGP BSF and DGP Rajasthan, and took the support of the central agencies as well, for ensuring the arrest of the said BSF constable, who was apprehended by the Punjab Police on July 28 from his residence in Rawala Mandi, where he was availing his leave.