Punjab News Daily
Amritsar, July 18

Punjab Police on Saturday said it has dismantled a cross-border drug and illegal arms smuggling network with the arrest of four individuals, and recovery of over 5 kg of heroin.

Police also recovered two sophisticated pistols from their possession, said Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav.

Those arrested have been identified as Akash Sandhu (30), a resident of Rambagh in Amritsar; Sunil Saroj (40), a resident of Khai Mohalla in Amritsar; Harwinder Singh alias Chamkaur (32) and Vansh Singh (40), both residents of village Chhidan in Amritsar.

Accused Akash Sandhu, Sunil Saroj and Harwinder alias Chamkaur are habitual offenders with previous cases under the NDPS Act and Arms Act already registered against them.

The recovered pistols include one 9MM Glock and one .30 bore.

The accused were in contact with foreign-based smugglers, and received narcotics and weapon consignments for further distribution to criminal elements in the region, according to police probe.

Further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages in this case to identify all associates involved, he added.

Amritsar Commissioner of Police (CP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting on reliable intelligence, police first arrested accused Akash Sandhu and recovered 192 grams heroin from his possession, while, an additional 776 grams heroin was recovered based on his disclosure statement.

During investigation, accused Akash Sandhu disclosed that he had procured heroin from accused Sunil Saroj, he said, while adding that acting swiftly on the information, police teams arrested accused Sunil Saroj and recovered 4.589 kg heroin from his possession.

The CP said that continuing the investigation, police teams arrested two more accused, Harwinder Singh alias Chamkaur and Vansh Singh and recovered two sophisticated pistols from their possession.

Harwinder was also wanted in a commercial quantity heroin case registered at Police Station Chheharta.

Investigation revealed that Harwinder and Vansh are residents of the same village situated in close proximity to the International Border, indicating their strategic role in facilitating cross-border narco and arms smuggling activities.