NCB officers maintained that Jasbir was the mastermind of the syndicate and the seized heroin was part of an international cartel that was being operated by a Lahore-based smuggler, identified as Malik Choudhary. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Thursday arrested one Jasbir Singh, alias Momi, alias Boss, from Hoshiarpur in Punjab in connection to the seizure of 56.501kg of heroin from the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan.
NCB officers maintained that Jasbir was the mastermind of the syndicate and the seized heroin was part of an international cartel that was being operated by a Lahore-based smuggler, identified as Malik Choudhary. The heroin was seized near the international border in Rajasthan on June 3 and is one of the biggest drugs hauls in the recent past in Rajasthan.
The drug was brought into India via PVC plastic pipes, NCB officers said. The receivers of the contraband fled from the spot before the police reached the spot and could not be apprehended. The case was handed over to Narcotics Control Bureau, Jodhpur, for investigation.
A senior NCB officer based in Chandigarh said, “Jasbir Singh is the sixth person arrested in this case. Our investigations have concluded that he is the mastermind and was one of the prime receivers of the consignment. The role of another person, identified as Harmesh alias Kali of Ferozepur, has come to light. Both of them are habitual offenders under NDPS Act, Murder, Arms Act and Jail Manual Act and were absconding since 2019.”
A team under the supervision of Zonal Director, NCB, Chandigarh, Gyanendra Kumar Singh, was tracking all the suspects and was working in tandem with BSF personnel.
Sources said on June 4, two out of four accused who came to receive the contraband — Rupa, 30, of Ferozepur, and Harmesh Singh, 18, of Fazilka — were arrested. They added that three more accused — identified as Rajvinder Singh of Ganganagar, Rajasthan, Sukhpreet Singh of Ganganagar, Rajasthan, and Sunil Singh of Ganganagar, Rajasthan — were arrested for harbouring the prime accused and conducting recce of the border for smuggling the heroin.
An NCB officer said, “During investigations, the NCB found a photograph of Jasbir Singh. During surveillance, it came to light that he, along with his family, had fled from his village immediately after the drug seizure. Active surveillance was mounted for 15 days and a piece of specific information was received based on which we nabbed him after a brief chase. Further, investigation in the case is under progress.”
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