2 drug smugglers held with hand grenade, ₹1 lakh recovered

AMRITSAR Police have arrested two alleged drug smugglers and recovered a hand grenade and ₹1 lakh of suspected drug money from their possession at a checkpoint in the Makboolpura area.

The arrested men have been identified as Parkash Singh alias Mintu of Bare Ke village and Angrej Singh alias Geja of Ali Ke village in Ferozepur district. With the arrest of the accused, the police have also confiscated their two mobile phones and a Maruti Suzuki Brezza car.

According to police, both the arrested men are likely to be in contact with Pakistani smugglers for the smuggling of heroin and weapons. A spokesperson of Amritsar city police said, “A police team had laid a barricading on the Grand Trunk road. During routine checking, the duo accused were arrested.”

He said, “During the preliminary questioning, it has come to the fore that one of the arrested accused Parkash Singh was sentenced in a 30-kg heroin seizure case. Parkash had jumped parole and was declared proclaimed offender (PO). Both Parkash and Angrej are relatives and had been working to smuggle drugs.”

He further said, “Our teams are working to ascertain if the accused were in contact with some Pakistan-based smugglers. We will also examine their financial records and call details during their police remand. It is yet to be ascertained from where the hand grenade had come and what was the accused’s intention behind it. More recoveries are expected during the remand of the accused.”

A case under various sections of the NDPS Act and the Arms Act was registered against the accused at the Makboolpura police station.

Meanwhile, the family members of the arrested duo protested outside the Makboolpura police station terming their arrests as ‘illegal’.