Heroin worth Rs 100 crore seized in Punjab’s Kapurthala: Drug syndicate operating from jail

Chandigarh, (PTI): Twenty kilograms of heroin worth Rs 100 crore in the international market was seized from two people in Kapurthala district, said the Punjab Police on Tuesday.

The two arrested suppliers-dealers have been identified as Balwinder Singh of Sarangwal village in Hoshiarpur and Peter Masih of Basti Danishmanda locality in Jalandhar.

Peter is already facing two criminal cases.

State DGP Chief Dinkar Gupta in an official statement said after police teams intercepted a truck and a car during checking in Kapurthala on Monday, the search of the vehicles led to the recovery of 20 kg of heroin.

The drivers of the vehicles tried to flee but were nabbed after a brief chase.

Police recovered 20 packets of heroin (weighing one kg each) from them, said the DGP.

Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police H S Khakh said two special cavities were created in the roof of the driver’s cabin of the truck to conceal the consignment during transportation.

During preliminary investigation, the accused disclosed that a heroin consignment was being smuggled from Purmara Mandi in Srinagar by Balwinder Singh in a truck and Peter Masih collected the consignment from him.

The DGP said a narco-gangster angle is being suspected in the case as the investigation carried out so far indicated that Peter Masih had been sent to collect the consignment by Gagandeep, brother of the notorious gangster Rajnish Kumar.

Police suspected that a big drug syndicate was being operated by notorious gangsters lodged in jails. (PTI)