Punjab police bust cross-border drug smuggling racket, recovers 3 kg of heroin

Jalandhar (Punjab) [India], April 12 (ANI): In a major blow to cross-border drug smuggling networks, Jalandhar Police have arrested one associate of Jaipal Bhullar Gang and recovered 3 kilogrammes of heroin.

In a post shared on the social media platform X, Gaurav Yadav, Director General of Police, Punjab, said that the police have also recovered 3 kilogrammes of heroin as well as two pistols.

According to the IPS officer, the initial investigations have revealed that the racket was sourcing heroin across the border from Pakistan. The DGP also informed that FIR under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered and a probe is going on to establish backwards and forward linkages linked to the drug smuggling networks.

Focusing on the issue of drug smuggling, Gaurav Yadav also said that the Punjab police is committed to destroying the drug supply chain with the aim of making the state drug-free.

To ensure free, fair, and peaceful Lok Sabha elections, Punjab’s Special Director General of Police (Spl DGP) Law and Order Arpit Shukla, last week, chalked out a full-proof strategy with the Border Security Force (BSF) to further strengthen the second line of defence and completely break the supply of drugs from across the border. The Spl DGP had advised the BSF to use drone technology to counter the drone operations at Punjab borders, which have emerged as the new modus operandi to smuggle drugs from across the border.

He had also directed all the SSPs of border districts to conduct regular meetings with Village Level Defence Committee (VLDC) members and sensitise field staff and VLDC members to keep a strict vigil on the movement of drones.

A few months ago, the Border Security Force (BSF), in a joint operation with the Punjab Police in January, recovered a drone along with six packets weighing 6 kilogrammes suspected to contain heroin from a farming field near Village Majar Jamsher Pattan Dhani in Punjab’s Fazilka district.