The police teams seized drug money, a .32 bore revolver, 38 fake vehicle number plates, 44 gm of gold, 385 gm of silver, a currency counting machines, etc.
Published Oct 12, 2023 | 3:20 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 12, 2023 | 3:24 PM
Punjab police arrest wanted drug smuggler, seize fake license plates. (Supplied)
To dismantle an inter-state narcotic network, the Punjab Police — in a joint operation with the J&K Police — arrested a drug smuggler wanted in a 30 kg cocaine recovery case from Ludhiana and seized ₹4.94 crore of drug money stored in a bed.
The arrested accused has been identified as Manjit Singh (24), a native of the Thandian village in Banga, Nawanshahr. For the last six months, he had been living in Dashmesh Nagar, Mullanpur Dakha in Ludhiana.
Apart from seizing the drug money, police teams have also recovered one .32 bore revolver, 38 fake vehicle number plates of Punjab and Haryana, 44 grams of gold, 385 grams of silver, a currency counting machine, and a weighing machine from his possession. They have also impounded his Mahindra Scorpio.
Drug money and a revolver were among the items seized during the arrest. (Supplied)
The development came close on the heels of the arrest of two Punjab-based drug smugglers — identified as Hunny Basra of Palahi Gate, Phagwara, and Sarabjit Singh of Ballan village in Kartarpur — with 30 kg of cocaine from Jammu on 1 October.
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that following reliable inputs about the involvement of the accused Manjit Singh in the 30 kg cocaine recovery case, the Counter Intelligence Ludhiana team joined the Jammu Police and launched a search operation in the state.
Yadav said that preliminary investigations revealed that the accused used to transport drugs in vehicles from the Jalandhar area after picking up the consignment from the two accused arrested by the Jammu Police, who used to go to Jammu to retrieve the consignment.
Investigations are ongoing to establish backward and forward linkages, he added.
Sharing more details, AIG Counter Intelligence Simratpal Singh Dhindsa said that during questioning, the accused revealed that he has transported three consignments from Jalandhar to other places so far.
It was also revealed that the accused Manjit Singh’s father, identified as Satnam Singh, is also into drug smuggling and was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) in the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) case registered in Garhshankar, Hoshiarpur, he said.
Dhindsa added that police teams are conducting raids to nab Satnam Singh.
