Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 1

Two days after the seizure of 7 kg of heroin and three Chinese .30 bore calibre pistols from across the border from Dera Baba Nanak area in Gurdaspur by the BSF, the Amritsar rural police on Friday brought dismissed cop and notorious drug peddler Ranjit Singh of Modhe village on three-day production warrant.

Alarmed over the seizure, many intelligence and security agencies are also grilling Ranjit Singh. He was currently lodged in Ludhiana Central jail. Following the information provided by the rural police, Ludhiana Central jail authorities also confiscated a mobile phone from his possession from there.

The mobile phone was taken into custody which was being examined to establish his links with Belgium-based alleged Indian terrorist Jagdish Singh Bhura who had pushed the drugs and weapons into the Indian territory through his Pakistani links. Bhura has been a proclaimed offender in three terrorism-related cases in Punjab.

Ranjit was also in contact with Simranjit Singh and Surjit Masih who are prime suspects in the drone module racket busted by the police this month. A heavy duty quadcopter was recovered from their accomplices.

The police were also looking into Ranjit’s backward and forward links to expose the entire drug nexus. Ranjit had played a key role in the smuggling of the consignment seized two days ago.

Ranjit was recruited as a constable in the 80th battalion of the Punjab Armed Police in 1989 and rose up to the rank of ASI. In 2011, he was nabbed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence for smuggling 23 kg of heroin. He was dismissed from service thereafter. He had around five cases registered under the NDPS and Arms Acts against him.

The police said Ranjit developed close links with Pakistan-based cross-border smugglers. Both Bhura and Ranjit Singh have been nominated in the FIR registered with the Gharinda police station here.