Punjab police on August 21 said they have foiled a major bid to smuggle drugs by Pakistan-based smugglers and recovered 39 packets of heroin, weighing 40.81 kg, in the Panjgraian Border Outpost area of Amritsar, worth about ₹200 crore in the international market.
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the operation was based on specific inputs and carried out by the Amritsar (Rural) police, supported by the Border Security Force (BSF), as it was carried out in the border area under the control of the BSF.
“Following an input that Nirmal Singh alias Sonu Mayer, a notorious smuggler of the Gharinda area, was attempting to smuggle heroin through the Indo-Pak border, Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar (Rural) Gulneet Singh Khurana immediately shared the pin-pointed inputs with the BSF. Joint teams of the Punjab police and the BSF successfully seized the huge heroin cache, besides recovering 180 gm opium and two plastic pipes (manufactured by Super Punjab Pump, made in Pakistan). The police have also impounded a motorcycle and a Scooty belonging to the smugglers from the smuggling side, found stationed at the vicinity,” he said.
Mr. Khurana added, “The police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest Sonu, who is also wanted by the Tarn Taran police in a case of 1 kg of heroin recovered in 2020.” Sharing the modus operandi, Mr. Khurana said that the smugglers had used Pakistan-made plastic pipes to get the heroin across the border fence in neatly tied packets.
“An FIR under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act; Section 14 of the Foreigners Act; and Sections 3, 34 and 20 of the Indian Passport Act, has been registered at the Ramdas Police Station, Amritsar,” he said.