Punjab Police find cross border links in Narcotics smuggling and Hawala transaction

Continuing with their probe into the drugs trail exposed by the arrest of dreaded gangster Sukhpreet Singh @Budha, the Punjab Police have traced further links of  Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga (Billa) and Gurvinder Singh (Pehalwan), who were arrested three days ago, to expose a powerful nexus of the big fish leading to Pakistan links.

Pakistan sim cards have been recovered from the duo, both r/o village Kot Dharam Chand Kalan P.S Jhabal, District Taran Taran, according to a police spokesperson, who disclosed that the accused were arrested in a joint operation of the Organized Crime Control Unit (OCCU) and SAS Nagar Police. They were booked in FIR no. 61 dated 13-02-2020 under Section 21 of NDPS ACT PS City Kharar, along with 1kg heroin.

Read: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) busts 1300 cr drug cartel operating internationally

The investigations into the racket, in which around two dozen big fish have been apprehended so far, are led by DSP Bikram Brar under the supervision of Gurmeet Chauhan, AIG SSOC and RN Dhoke, ADGP IS.

Investigations so far have revealed that the duo, who had been absconding since 2014-15, had received a large quantity of heroin and fake Indian currency from Pakistan through various routes via different modes. They had been wanted by Directorate Revenue Intelligence (DRI),  Rajasthan Police and Punjab Police in cases related to receiving huge consignments of heroin from Pakistan. 

Read: India is vulnerable to trafficking of narcotics: Officials

Link with Pak dealers through Hawala

Both Jagga and Pehalwan had evaded arrest for the past five years by operating as transporters in through their own Dhillon Transport company, with a transport route spanning New Delhi to Madhya Pradesh. They had reportedly set up their own empire with the drug money and had purchased a new house at Makhu district in Ferozepur, along with five new trucks bought from New Delhi. They had also purchased about 4 acres of agricultural land at Kot Dharam Chand, Dist Tarn Taran. 

Investigations have revealed huge money transactions in their bank accounts, said the spokesperson, adding that the initial interrogation of the men had shown that they received drug money transferred by Pakistan dealers through Hawala.  

Jagdeep Singh @ Jagga had been involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin since 2008 when he first started using Pak SIM cards too. He came in contact with Gurvinder Singh @Pehalwan the same year, and later connected with Abad Ali @Baadi  @ Baadli of Pakistan. 

Read: Zero tolerance policy towards narcotics: HM Amit Shah

Jagga received the drug consignments from Jecka Pehalwan and Abad Ali, both Pakistanis, in the area of villages Rajetal and Mahawa drain near the Attari border by using Pakistan sim cards, which were functional in this region. He also used to procure drug consignment from Bodi Lamma r/o Pakistan, near Fazilka-Ferozepur border. 

Drugs transported from Pak via river route

According to the spokesperson, Jagga came in contact with Malik, r/o village Narwad of Pakistan, in the year 2015, and had been receiving huge consignments of drugs from Pakistan from the latter since then. He received most of his drug consignments from Pakistan through the Ravi River and from the fencing in the plastic tubes. He used Alto, Lancer,  Swift, Truck and Tata Sumo vehicles of his associate Mahinder Singh @Minda for transportation of the drugs. In Tata sumo, he had made hidden boxes below the rear seat to conceal the drugs. The drug money was transferred to Pakistan dealers through Hawala.  

After his arrested twice in NDPS cases, Jagga started using WhatsApp on an international number. He was initially arrested in a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) case of 13kg heroin registered in the year 2009. He was convicted to 10 years imprisonment in 2011 in this case but jumped the parole in 2014. He was again arrested by DRI in a 42kg heroin case in January 2015. He fled from police custody during his court appearance at Tarn Taran in this case in October 2015 and was absconding since then.

Incidentally, Gurdev Singh, father of Jagdeep Singh @Jagga, was also convicted for 11 years imprisonment in a drug case of 2005. He got parole and jumped the parole in 2014 and is still absconding.

Pehalwan, a cousin of Jagga, had been absconding since 2014 in a case of 10 kg heroin seizure. To evade arrest, he had changed his appearance and had started tying a turban.

Read: Three held with narcotics

(Image Credits-PTI)