20 kg heroin worth Rs 100 crore seized in Punjab, two held 

A narco-gangster angle is being suspected in the case as Peter Masih was sent to collect the consignment by Gaggandeep, brother of the notorious gangster Rajnish Kumar alias Preet Phagwara.
For representational purposes. (File Photo)
For representational purposes. (File Photo)

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Police has arrested two persons after seizing from them 20 kg of heroin worth Rs 100 crore in the international market. The drugs consignment was smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab.
 
The two accused have been identified as Balwinder Singh of Sarangwal village in Hoshiarpur and Peter Masih of Basti Danishmanda locality in Jalandhar. Peter had two criminal cases against him in the past.

Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta said that when the police teams intercepted a truck and a Hyundai i20 car at high-tech Dhilwan Police Naka in Kapurthala on Monday, the search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 20 kg heroin consignment. The drivers of vehicles were signalLed to stop at the checkpoint but the occupants tried to flee. The alert cops, however, managed to nab them after a brief chase.

The police recovered 20 packets of heroin (1 kg in each packet) from their possession while frisking them and from the two vehicles, the DGP said. 

Senior SP of Kapurthala HS Khakh said that two special cavities had been created in the roof of the driver's cabin of the truck by the drug suppliers to conceal the consignment during transportation.

The DGP further said that during the preliminary investigations, the drug dealers disclosed that a heroin consignment was being brought from Purmara Mandi in Srinagar by Balwinder Singh in a truck bearing registration number HR-55K-2510 and Peter Masih collected the consignment from him.

A narco-gangster angle is being suspected in the case as the investigations out so far indicated that Peter Masih had been sent to collect the consignment by Gaggandeep, brother of the notorious gangster Rajnish Kumar alias Preet Phagwara.

The police would produce the arrested accused before a magistrate and would seek their remand for further investigations, the DGP added.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com