A Punjab Police constable, deployed with the state government’s anti-drone system to keep tabs on cross-border narcotic smuggling in Tarn Taran district, was held with 15 kg of heroin, police said on Wednesday.
Karandeep was driving the vehicle, they added. The police arrested Gurpanth, a resident of Amritsar Rural’s Vadala village and his associate Harmanjeet Kaur, a resident of Gurdaspur’s Dhianpur. Pathankot police have busted a cross-border heroin smuggling module, arresting two of its operatives, including a woman, and seizing over 7.8 kg of heroin in a coordinated two-stage operation, officials said. Pathankot SSP Manpreet Singh said that acting on credible intelligence, a special branch team intercepted suspect Gurpanth and recovered 590 grams of heroin from his possession. He added that the raid led to the arrest of his female accomplice, Harmanjeet, and the seizure of an additional 7.2 kg of heroin from the premises, taking the total recovery to 7.8 kg.
“Constable Karandeep Singh, a resident of Bhuse village, was arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) at a naka in the Sarai Amanat Khan area of the district,” Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police Surendra Lamba said. The BSF intercepted a suspicious car at the checkpoint and a search resulted in the recovery of 15kg heroin, according to police. Tarn Taran deputy superintendent of police Sukhbir Singh said Karandeep was posted at the anti-drone system in the jurisdiction of the Khalra police station. “The recovered contraband and the accused police employee have been handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which has launched a comprehensive investigation to unearth the wider nexus behind the cross-border smuggling operation,” said Sarai Amanat Khan police station in-charge Raj Kumar. Director general of police Gaurav Yadav said that further investigation is underway to trace the wider narcotics network, follow the financial trail and identify other persons involved. Following his sustained interrogation and forensic examination of his mobile phone, police teams raided a rented accommodation in Fatehgarh Churian, he said.
