Making the biggest heroin seizure of 2024, Commissionerate Police Jalandhar has busted an international drug syndicate with the arrest of its three members after recovering 48kg heroin and Rs 21 lakh drug money from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday.
Those arrested have been identified as Satnam Singh alias Babbi, a native of village Dhandiyan in Nawanshahr and currently residing at Subhash Nagar in Hoshiarpur; his daughter Aman Rozi and his son-in-law Hardeep Singh. Apart from seizing heroin and drug money, Police teams have also impounded their three high-end cars including Toyota Innova, Mahindra XUV and Hyundai Verna, besides recovering one Cash Counting Machine from their possession. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that this drug syndicate, spread across five countries— Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan and Canada, was actively involved in trans-border and inter-state drug smuggling using their domestic network spanning two states— Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that preliminary investigation has suggested that Gujarat’s sea route and J&K’s land route were used to push this heroin consignment into the territory of India.
The DGP said that a Turkey-based heroin smuggler identified as Navpreet Singh alias Nav is the mastermind of this syndicate. Pertinently, Navpreet Nav was also involved in a 350 kg Heroin seizure by the Delhi Police Special Cell in 2021.
“Further investigations are ongoing to uncover the forward and backward linkages in this case,” he said.
Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Jalandhar Swapan Sharma said that acting swiftly on a tip-off, a special naka was conducted near Y-Point Bhagat Singh Colony Bypass and during checking, a Toyota Innova car bearing registration number PB08-DS-2958 was signalled to stop.
The driver identified as Satnam Singh alias Babbi attempted to flee from the spot but the police teams managed to apprehend him and upon search of his vehicle 8kg heroin concealed in a bag kept inside the vehicle was recovered, he added.
The CP said that during questioning accused Satnam revealed the role of his daughter Aman Rozi in maintaining financial records and his son-in-law Hardeep Singh, who was handling the distribution of heroin across various districts, often using multiple vehicles for transportation.
“Acting on this information, the police nabbed both suspects from the Nakodar Jalandhar road, and recovered a substantial quantity of 40kg heroin, Rs 21 lakh drug money, two vehicles and one cash counting machine from their possession,” he said.
He said that further inquiry has revealed that while in Hoshiarpur Jail in a drug-related case in 2017, accused Satnam Singh had established connections with major drug kingpins and began ordering heroin in large quantities after securing bail.
In 2023, Satnam’s son Manjit Singh was also arrested in connection with another drug case in Jammu, leading to the recovery of a significant amount of drugs, money, vehicles, and other assets.