Punjab Police bust international drug syndicate

The Punjab Police busted an international drug syndicate with the arrest of three of its members, after recovering 48 kg of heroin and ₹21 lakh drug money from their possession

The Punjab Police on April 29 said they had busted an international drug syndicate with the arrest of three of its members, after recovering 48 kg of heroin and ₹21 lakh drug money from their possession, making this the biggest heroin seizure so far in 2024.

Punjab’s Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said the arrested have been identified as Satnam Singh alias Babbi, his daughter Aman Rozi, and his son-in-law Hardeep Singh. “Apart from seizing heroin and drug money, police teams have also impounded their three high-end cars, besides recovering one cash counting machine from their possession,” Mr. Yadav said in a statement.

Mr. Yadav said that this drug syndicate, spread across five countries — Iran, Afghanistan, Turkiye, Pakistan and Canada — was actively involved in trans-border and inter-State drug smuggling using their domestic network spanning two States — Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that the preliminary investigation had suggested Gujarat’s sea route and J&K’s land route were used to push the heroin consignment into Indian territory.

“A Turkey-based heroin smuggler identified as Navpreet Singh alias Nav is the mastermind of this syndicate. Pertinently, Navpreet Nav was also involved in a 350 kilogramme heroin seizure by the Delhi Police Special Cell in 2021. Further investigations are ongoing to uncover the forward and backward linkages in this case,” Mr. Yadav said.

Jalandhar’s Commissioner of Police, Swapan Sharma, said that acting on a tip-off, Satnam Singh was apprehended in Jalandhar, and upon the search of his vehicle, eight kilos of heroin, concealed in a bag kept inside the vehicle, was recovered. 

“During questioning, accused Satnam revealed the role of his daughter Aman Rozi in maintaining financial records, and his son-in-law Hardeep Singh, who was handling the distribution of heroin across various districts, often using multiple vehicles for transportation. Following this, the police nabbed both suspects from the Nakodar-Jalandhar road, and recovered a substantial quantity of 40 kg heroin, ₹21 lakh drug money, two vehicles, and one cash counting machine from their possession,” Mr. Sharma said.