13 KG HEROIN SEIZED NEAR BORDER IN AJNALA
: Police on Tuesday recovered 13.72kg heroin buried in a field across the barbed fence on the India-Pakistan border near Daoke village in Amritsar district’s Ajnala sub-division on the basis of disclosure made by a man arrested for drug peddling last week.
The accused, Samsher Singh, alias Shera, son of Bhaini Rajpootan village sarpanch Nanak Singh who purportedly owes allegiance to the ruling Congress, was nabbed with 7.5kg heroin and ₹28 lakh drug money in Ajnala’s Poonga village on Friday. The police had also seized four mobile phones and impounded a Mahindra Bolero.
A case under Section 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against him at the Ajnala police station. The police had also recovered 1kg heroin from at Bhaini Rajpootan on Shera’s disclosure on Sunday. He is on police remand. The contraband was pushed into the Indian territory by Pakistan-based smugglers, the police said.
At a press conference, inspector general of police (IGP border range) Surinderpal Singh Parmar said, “During his interrogation, Shera revealed that a consignment of heroin was concealed in a field across the barbed fence.
A team led by the Ajnala deputy superintendent of police (DSP) with the help of the Border Security Force (BSF) recovered the contraband. We are trying to find out as who owns the fields.”
“We found in our investigation that Shera was in touch with some Pakistan-based smugglers over phone and on social media,” he added.
There are some points where the barbed fence is broken and since it is spread across a large geographical area along the border, it is not possible to keep a watch everywhere, the IG said. “We don’t think it is the BSF’s failure. They have been quite cooperative with the Punjab Police in smuggling-related cases,” he claimed.
POLICE OFFICIALS CLAIM CROSS-BORDER LINK, SAY CONTRABAND WAS PUSHED INTO INDIA BY PAK-BASED PEDDLERS; ACCUSED IS SON OF SARPANCH OF AN AMRITSAR VILLAGE