532-kg heroin haul kingpin held in Sirsa
Ranjeet Cheeta, Hizbul-backed operative, nabbed with his brother in a joint op by NIA, Punjab and Haryana cops
CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR:IN a major catch, Ranjeet Singh Rana, alias Cheetah, who was wanted in the 532-kg heroin haul from Attari on the Indo-pakistan border in June last year, was arrested in Haryana’s Sirsa town on Saturday.
In a joint operation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Punjab Police and their Haryana counterpart, Rana, the kingpin of the drug racket, and his brother Gagandeep Singh, alias Bhola, were arrested from their hideout at Begu village in Sirsa.
Punjab Police chief Dinkar Gupta said Ranjeet is one of the biggest drug smugglers of India.
“Following up further on arrests of Hizbul operatives in J&K and Punjab, Punjab Police juggernaut moved further to nab Ranjeet of Amritsar, one of the biggest drug smugglers of India from Sirsa today,” Gupta tweeted.
The Punjab Police said Ranjeet is a big fish in the Isi-controlled network linked with Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riaz Naikoo who was killed by security forces in Kashmir recently.
With more than 10 criminal cases against him, Ranjeet was one of the key links in the network engaged in smuggling of large number of consignments of drugs and illegal weapons through the India-pakistan border through the legal land route of Attari and also across the border fencing in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
He had been convicted in 2008, 2009 and 2011 for heroin smuggling. He was awarded 12-year rigorous imprisonment for smuggling of 5 kg heroin, but was acquitted by the Supreme Court in March 2018 by giving him benefit of doubt.
Giving details of the Sirsa operations, DGP Dinkar Gupta said he spoke to his Haryana counterpart Manoj Yadav at around 9 pm on Friday, and thereafter coordination was established by CP Amritsar with Sirsa SP Arun Nehra.
HEROIN HIDDEN IN ROCKSALT CONSIGNMENTS
Ranjeet was wanted in smuggling of in 532kg heroin and 52 kg of mixed narcotics, worth over Rs 2700 crore, from Pakistan in a consignment of 600 bags of rock salt, through integrated checkpost (ICP), Attari (Amritsar) on June 29, 2019. The customs department had nabbed Tariq Ahmed Lone of Handwara (J&K) and Gurpinder Singh of Amritsar in this connection.
Announcing Ranjeet and Gagandeep’s arrest, chief minister Captain Amarinder also congratulated the police force for the arrest of Hilal Ahmed Wagay, an overground worker of the Hizbul Mujahideen, who was arrested on April 25.
Police said Ranjeet and Gagandeep were nabbed following interrogation of their cousins -- Bikram Singh, alias Vicky, and his brother Maninder Singh Mani -- who were arrested recently for allegedly handing over money to Hilal in Amritsar.
According to the chief minister, Ranjeet is one of the most active nodal operatives of the extensive network of drug smugglers/couriers set up by the Pakistan spy agency Inter-services
Intelligence (ISI) to push in composite consignments of drugs and weapons from Pakistan into Punjab through various means, including drones.
STAYED AT BEGU VILLAGE FOR 8 MONTHS
Sirsa senior superintendent of police (SSP) Arun Nehra said, “Ranjeet has been living with his family in Begu village for the past eight months. He rented a room on the identification provided by his relative who belongs to Vaidwala village and has been identified as Gurmeet Singh, who is also wanted under the NDPS Act.”
REMANDED IN 5-DAY POLICE CUSTODY
Ranjeet and Gagandeep were later brought to Amritsar, where they were presented before duty magistrate Arjun Singh by the police. The duty magistrate remanded them in five-day police custody.
A day before Ranjeet’s arrest, the authorities of Amritsar central jail recovered two mobile phones from his brother Kuldeep Singh, alias Babbu, of Havelian village. Babbu is an undertrial in the 15-kg heroin haul case of 2016.
Davinder Singh, assistant superintendent of the jail, said during a checking of barrack number 7, they recovered two mobile phones and two SIM card from Kuldeep’s possession.