14.7 quintal poppy husk seized in Kapurthala, 6 smugglers held

JALANDHAR: Counter intelligence wing of Jalandhar and Kapurthala police busted an inter-state drug racket and arrested six drug peddlers besides recovering 14.70 quintal of poppy husk, hidden in a truck and jeep at village Rampur Jagir in Sultanpur Lodhi of Kapurthala.

The arrested accused have been identified as kingpin Harmesh Singh alias Kala (35) of village Madar, Joginder Singh(47) of village Lalle in Makhu, Harjinder Singh(45) of village Wariswala Jattan in Ferozepur, Sukha Singh (26), Jagjit Singh (32) of Village Daulewal in Moga and Veer Singh (35) of Abohar in Fazilka.

Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, AIG counter intelligence, Jalandhar, said that he received information that three smugglers have teamed up to push a huge consignment of poppy husk from Madhya Pradesh (MP) to Punjab.

Khakh said, the wing received a tip-off that the trio had smuggled a huge consignment of poppy husk from MP-based smugglers, and they were planning to supply the contraband among other linkups of Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Moga districts.

Meanwhile, a case under Sections 15-29-61-85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at Sultanpur Lodhi police station was registered against them.

“Each time, these smugglers opted a new modus operandi to hide the consignment, they covered the entire consignment under 125 bags of black chickpeas, 200 bags of channa dal and 274 bags of cattle feed,” he said.

AIG said that kingpin Harmesh is a history-sheeter and he was out on parole from Ferozpur jail . More than eight cases have already been registered against him and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the court in a case, he said.