Accused sold 21 heroin packets in 45 days
Duo was held near the IndoPak border in Tarn Taran on I Day eve
: The two Pakistani nationals arrested on 14 August have disclosed that they had supplied 21 heroin packets of heroin to Indian smugglers in last one and a half month.
Accused Ali Raja, 19, and MD Ramjan, 19, of Kahna village in Lahore confessed this during their remand, said police.
Previously the director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora had claimed that there were no ‘big fish’ to catch in the drug trade in Punjab but as the heroin supply from Pakistan is still going on, it has raised questions about the arrest of big smugglers in the state.
The Border Security Force (BSF) officials had arrested the two Pakistani nationals near TJ Singh Chowki at the Indo-Pak fencing line in the district, on the eve of I- Day.
The cops had nabbed the accused with two mobile phones, a pocket diary and an I- card. Khalra police produced the accused in Patti court from where they were send on remand.Senior superintendent of police (SSP) DS Mann said, “Both were interrogated by senior police officers and the Indian smugglers involved in the trade will also be arrested soon.”
Station house officer (SHO)
The Pakistani nationals were paid ₹2,000 per packet for supplying the contraband. HARCHAND SINGH , SHO
Khalra, Harchand Singh said,“During the remand, both the accused confessed about their involvement in the smuggling business”
He said, “The accused told the police that two Pakistani smugglers, Kalim Ulah son of Bhappa Gujjar and Shahtan Muhammad son of Liyakat Muhammad of Kahna village in Lahore, had been giving them the contrabands to supply it to their Indian counterparts.” The Indian smugglers still have strong links with Pak smugglers, he added.
The duo confessed that the Pakistani smugglers had shown them the pictures of Indian smugglers for identification. After identifying them they had been flinging the packets through the fencing line.
“The Pakistani nationals were paid ₹2,000 per packet for doing the supply job and it was their sixth attempt,” the SHO said.
“On August 14, when BSF officials arrested the duo, they were roaming near the border area with three heroin packets to supply into Indian territory but were nabbed. Their aides who stood behind them holding the contrabands fled from the spot,” the SHO said.
“Now, both the accused have been sent to JIC Amritsar for further interrogation,” he added. Notably, 21 packets of heroin costs ₹105 crore in the international market.