Drug racket busted in Amritsar jail, four held

THE HEROIN RACKET WAS BEING ALLEGEDLY RUN BY JAILED GANGSTER MANNU, WHO IS ALSO SAID TO HAVE LINKS WITH SMUGGLERS BASED IN PAKISTAN

BATALA: Police on Saturday busted a heroin-smuggling racket being run from the Amritsar Central jail, allegedly by notorious gangster Harwinder Singh alias Mannu.

Four persons, including a woman, were arrested and 300gm heroin, two countrymade pistols of .32 bore, Rs 5.25 lakh drug money, two luxury cars (Honda Amaze and Hyundai Verna) and an internet dongle were seized from their possession. The accused have been identified as Vijay Masih of Kalanaur, Robin Masis of Kala Afghana, and gangster Mannu’s cousin Ranjit Singh alias Jeetu and sister Rajwinder Kaur.

Police said Vijay and Robin were hired by Mannu, who is lodged at the Amritsar jail and is facing a dozen criminal cases. Mannu, a resident of Kotli Surat Malhi village of Batala, also has links with smugglers based in Pakistan, they said.

“Vijay and Robin had been smuggling heroin into various villages on Mannu’s instructions. The proceeds of the smuggled heroin were being submitted to Mannu’s sister Rajwinder,” said Batala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rashpal Singh, adding that their teams were on duty to bring Mannu on production warrant.

He said the drug money was recovered from Rajwinder’s house after the confessional statements of Vijay and Robin, who were arrested with 300 gm heroin, two pistols and two cars.

He said alleged that Jeetu was coordinating between Vijay and Rajwinder. A case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Arms Act has been registered against the accused in Batala.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Police on Saturday said suspected drug smuggler Gavi Singh alias Vijay arrested from Jharkhand last month has admitted to smuggling over 500kg heroin from Pakistan in the last two-and-ahalf years. Gavi was nabbed by a joint team of Punjab Police and Jharkhand Police on April 26.