Drug smuggler Zeera has assets worth ₹3 cr
14 YEARS OF ‘BUSINESS’ Acategory peddler had been evading arrest since 2004, when he escaped from Rajasthan police custody
JALANDHAR : ‘A’ category drug smuggler Jagir Singh Zeera, :who had been evading arrest for the past 14 years and was finally arrested on Thursday, has made assets worth ₹3 crore from drug smuggling, the police said here on Friday. Zeera confessed to have property in different districts of the state and cash in bank accounts of family members during interrogation by the district’s counter-intelligence wing.
HPS Khakh, counter-intelligence AIG, said that he has confessed to having a 10-marla double-storey house worth ₹40 lakh and two shops worth ₹5 lakh in Dashmesh Nagar, Jalandhar, a 6-marla plot worth ₹30 lakh in the commercial area of the Leather Complex here, a 10-marla doublestorey flat at the Friends Colony in Ludhiana valued at around ₹50 lakh, a double-storey house at his native village is around ₹40 lakh and a 5-acre land in Moga with an estimated value of ₹75 lakh.
Moreover, Zeera has also told the police that he had deposited about ₹50 lakh in various bank accounts, including ₹20 lakh in his wife’s account.
“On Friday, we produced him in a court and took him on sevenday police remand. We will continue to interrogate him on his business links and other properties, if any, made during these years,” Khakh said.
Zeera, a native of Daulewal village, Moga, was arrested on Thursday when he was carrying 55 bags of poppy husk (each bag weighing 40 kg) in a truck (RJ07G4392) near the Wadala Chowk here. One illegal pistol along with 5 live cartridges was also recovered from him.
The bags were concealed under 200 bags of powder, which is required in the manufacture of slippers (chappals) and have a pungent smell. It makes it difficult to notice that poppy husk is hidden under the powder bags .
Khakh said that he was wanted by the police of different districts in more than drug 10 cases. “Zeera was declared a proclaimed offender in many cases and had been continuously shifting base after leaving his village in 2004.”
He said that in 2004, the Rajasthan police had arrested him in a smuggling case, but he managed to escape from police custody.