1.4kg heroin seized from fields of border farmer, held

The district rural police on Monday claimed to have arrested a border farmer and seized 1.4kg heroin from his field across the India-Pakistan fencing line, falling under the Lopoke police station.

The accused has been identified as Bikramjit Singh, a resident of Kakkar Kalan village, while another accused Deba, who is his aide, also a resident of Kakkar Kalan, is at large.

Addressing a press conference at his office here, senior superintendent of police (Amritsar rural) Parampal Singh said station house officer (SHO) of Lopoke police station, inspector Kapil Kaushik, received a tip-off about the accused. “The secret informer told the police that both the accused had been smuggling heroin after receiving it from across the border,” he said.

He said after getting the information, the police arrested Bikramjit from his home while Deba managed to flee.

He said, “During interrogation, Bikramjit Singh told the police that he owns a part of agrarian land across the barbed fence on the India Pakistan border and confessed that around two and one and a-half years ago, Deba had ordered 3kg heroin from Pakistan. He said the Pakistani smugglers had buried it in his field and he brought this by concealing it in his tractor’s drawbars.”

The SSP said, “Bikramjit further told the police that he and Deba had sold the heroin to a man named Sandhu, whose address and full identity is not known, at ₹7 lakh. He also said around seven months ago, he had got 500 gm heroin from his field; which he distributed to his friends, who are heroin addicts.” He said, “At the instance of Bikramjit, we have recovered 1.4kg heroin hidden in the ground near his field’s borewell.” Parampal said a case under sections 21-61-85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against both the accused. “Raids are being conducted to nab Dheba,” he said.

On July 10, a joint team of the 17-Battalion of the BSF and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of the Punjab police had also seized around 2.5kg heroin from a field near the security fence on the border in Ajnala.