The Punjab Police on Thursday busted a drug smuggling racket seizing 8 kg of heroin valued at Rs 40 crore from a wheat field in the border district of Tarn Taran and arrested a smuggler who had allegedly buried the narcotic.
The seizure was made by the anti-narcotic cell of Tarn Taran police in a joint operation with the Border Security Force (BSF), police said.
The drug was buried in the wheat field situated across the barbed wire fence and ahead of the zero line near Rattoke village of Bhikhiwind sub-division on the India-Pakistan border.
Police also arrested one Gurlal Singh of Rattoke village, who had allegedly buried the heroin concealed in plastic bottles. Police suspect the drug was smuggled from across the border.
According to police, Gurlal and his accomplices who are yet to be identified had been in contact with Pakistani smugglers.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Tarn Taran, Dhruv Dahiya said besides heroin, they have also recovered 30 gm opium from the border.
“We were tipped off that Gurlal had buried a contraband of heroin in a wheat field near the barbed wire fence ahead of the zero line. Various teams under the supervision of deputy superintendent of police (DSP-Detective) Kawaljit Singh were formed. The teams with the help of the BSF personnel conducted search operations near the fence, and during this, five plastic bottles filled with heroin, that were buried in the wheat field, were recovered. The total contraband’s weight is 8 kg and 30 gms,” senior superintendent of police (SSP), Tarn Taran, Dhruv Dahiya said.
He said Gurlal was arrested from the village.
“The contraband is worth Rs 40 crore in the international market,” DSP Kawaljit Singh said.
The SSP said preliminary investigation has revealed that Gural is a smuggler and had earlier been booked for attempted murder and also under the Arms Act in 2015 after he along with his accomplices allegedly attempted to cross the border and opened fire at the BSF to smuggle heroin from across the border. He was also booked in 2019 for allegedly attempting to break open an ATM machine with a gas cutter at Chabhal village.
DSP Kawaljit Singh said Gurlal’s father Karnail Singh owns 10 acre agriculture land — four across the barbed will fence till the zero line and six along the fence in Rattoke village.
The SSP said they expect to make more seizures and arrests in the coming days.
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