Punjab: Five drug smugglers, three hawala operators held

Chandigarh, March 24 (IANS) Striking a major blow to the narco-terrorism hawala networks, Punjab Police’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) along with Central agencies have arrested 11 people, including five drug smugglers and three drug hawala money couriers, and recovered drug money in different foreign currencies amounting to Rs 5.09 crore, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said on Monday.

The arrested drug smugglers have been identified as Harjinder Singh, Harmanjit Singh, Sagar, Lavdeep Singh and Harbhajan Singh, while drug hawala money couriers have been identified as Saurav Mahajan, Tanush and Harminder Singh.

The arrested hawala traders have been identified as Ashok Kumar Sharma and his accomplices Rajesh Kumar and Amit Bansal. The development came following two months of investigations and sustained follow-up in the arrest of two individuals -- Harjinder Singh and Harmanjit Singh -- after recovering 263 grams of heroin and Rs 5.60 lakh drug money from their possession on January 21.

DGP Yadav told the media here that during the investigations police teams from ANTF arrested three hawala money couriers -- Saurav Mahajan, Tanush and Harminder -- on the next day, and recovered Rs 47.50 lakh drug money.

Following the trail of investigations, police teams have arrested two more drug smugglers identified as Sagar and Lavdeep Singh and Rs 5 lakh of drug money along with an Activa scooter and 160 grams of heroin were recovered from them, he added.

Further investigations into this case have led the police teams to expose the role of an inmate lodged in Central Jail Amritsar identified as Harbhaj Singh, who emerged as the mastermind of this racket and was found to be in contact with Pakistani drug smuggler Shahbaz from inside the jail.

On January 26, the accused was brought on a production warrant from Central Jail Amritsar and formally arrested in this case.

Pakistani smuggler Shehbaz, a resident of village Burewal in Narowal district, had illegally entered India, and an FIR under relevant sections was registered against him in February 2021, following which he had remained lodged in Central Jail in Amritsar before his deportation to Pakistan.

During the further course of investigations, police teams have recovered an additional Rs 36.59 lakhs, taking the total recovery of Indian currency to Rs 1.45 crore, 2,63,630 Euros, $7,000, 10,020 Canadian Dollars, 27,500 Pounds and 285 Dirhams, besides recovering 372 grams gold from different locations.

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