Man held for peddling drugs, jail inmate booked

Ludhiana: The Ludhiana unit of special task force (STF) have arrested a drug peddler on Saturday with 840g heroin, worth Rs 4.20 crore, who was allegedly colluding with a drug smuggler lodged in central jail. The STF have also booked the jail inmate.
According to STF officials, the jail inmate was in touch with the accused through phone. The accused is identified as Jatinder Singh, 41. He was picked up from near Daba road, based on a tip-off. The accused was on his motorcycle when he was stopped at a check post established by STF. On frisking, the police recovered 840g heroin and a weighing machine from his bag.
The police added that during interrogation, the accused confessed to peddling drugs for four years. He also has a murder, kidnapping and several cases of drug peddling against him. He was sentenced in murder case and was released a few months ago.
Official added that Jatinder also confessed to taking instructions from inmate Varinder Thakur of Bhamiya, a dreaded criminal who has over 20 criminal cases against him. Varinder and Jatinder had formed an alliance when they met in jail.
“After being released from jail, Jatinder started working for Varinder. Varinder kept in contact with Jatinder and a Delhi-based smuggler, a Nigerian native, through phone. On the instructions of Varinder, Jatinder used to procure heroin from the Delhi-based smuggler and sell it to Varinder’s regular customers for a commission,” said police.
Official said STF will bring Varinder on production warrant for questioning.
Incidentally, in 2019, STF had arrested 11 jail inmates for running drug rackets from inside the jail via mobile phone.