Chandigarh, May 12 (PTI) Punjab Police on Monday said that they have busted a drug cartel linked to a Turkey-based smuggler and arrested three of its operatives.
In a separate case, police apprehended three other drug smugglers and recovered intoxicating pharmaceutical substances from them.
"In a major crackdown on international narco-hawala cartel, Amritsar Commissionerate Police busted a drug cartel linked to Turkey-based smuggler Navpreet Singh alias Nav Bhullar and arrested his three operatives," said Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on X.
He said that 1.01 kg heroin, Rs 1.06 crore hawala money (Rs 84.02 lakh in cash and Rs 22 lakh in frozen bank accounts), a cash counting machine and a car were recovered from their possession.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurdeep Singh alias Saab (35), a taxi driver from Amritsar, Pardeep Sharma (29), a garment shop worker from Rajasthan's Bikaner, and Mani Sharma (36), a Ludhiana-based garments businessman, the DGP said.
Yadav said the preliminary investigation has revealed that accused Gurdeep was operating the local network of hawala and drugs smuggling on directions of his handler Nav Bhullar, who had provided him a house to use it as a hideout in Amritsar and all logistic support to run the cartel.
Bhullar is wanted in big hauls of drug and hawala cases by different centre and state agencies, he added in a statement later.
The DGP said that an FIR has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and investigation is underway to trace more links of the cartel.
Sharing operation details, Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting on a specific intelligence input, police strategically formed different teams and apprehended Gurdeep Singh alias Saab from near Lok Heart School, Ram Tirath Road, Amritsar, and recovered the drug consignment and drug money from his possession.
Bhullar said that the accused Gurdeep Singh during interrogation mentioned about involvement of accused persons -- Pardeep Sharma and Mani Sharma -- and also revealed that the latter had delivered Rs 5 lakh each in drug money.
The police teams have following the revelations successfully tracked the two accused and arrested them, he said, adding further investigations are on.
Meanwhile, giving details of the second case involving a pharma drug syndicate, the DGP said that Fazilka Police have apprehended three drug smugglers and recovered 60,000 100 milligram Tramadol tablets from them along with the vehicle used for their transportation.
In a statement later, Yadav said that those arrested have been identified as Prince Kumar, a resident of Mohkam Araiyan in Jalalabad, Sandeep Kumar alias Sanju and Jashanpreet Singh alias Jashan, both residents of Kamrewala in Jalalabad.
Apart from recovering a major haul of intoxicating pharmaceutical substances, the police teams have impounded their car in which they were travelling, he added.
The DGP said that an FIR has been registered under the NDPS Act and added further investigations are on to trace backward and forward linkages to dismantle the pharma drug syndicate.
Sharing operation details, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Fazilka, Varinder Singh Brar, said that the police teams during special 'naka' (checking) at Jalalabad-Sri Muktsar Road near Ladhu Wala Utar village stopped a car with three occupants coming from Sri Muktsar Sahib's side for checking.
Brar said that the police during search recovered 60,000 Tramadol tablets concealed in cardboard boxes kept on the rear seat of the car, adding the three accused persons have been arrested.
The SSP said the preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused persons were part of an inter-district drug smuggling network and were supplying these banned pharmaceutical opioids in the region.
Further investigations are on, he added.