Three cross-border drug smugglers arrested in Amritsar

Chandigarh, May 28 (PTI) Three drug traffickers linked to cross-border smuggling have been arrested from Amritsar by the Punjab Police's Anti-Narcotics Task Force, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The arrested accused have been identified as Maninderjit Singh (26), a resident of Badowal village in Gurdaspur; Peter (22) and Lovejit Singh alias Raja (21), residents of Dharamkot Randhawa in Gurdaspur.

Around 521 grams of heroin, four sophisticated pistols, seven magazines and 55 live cartridges were recovered from them, the official said.

The police have also impounded two motorcycles, which they were using to deliver consignments.

According to Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav, preliminary investigation has revealed that the accused were in touch with Europe- and Pakistan-based drug smugglers, and had been receiving narco and weapon consignments from across the border using drones.

The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) is actively pursuing both forward and backward linkages to dismantle the entire network. More arrests and recoveries are likely in the coming days, the DGP said.

Sharing the operational details, ANTF Additional Director General of Police Nilabh Kishore said that the task force's Border Range Amritsar team had received credible inputs about the trio's involvement in trafficking narcotics and weapons from across the border.

Acting swiftly on the inputs, police teams led by Gurpreet Singh, Superintendent of Police, ANTF Border Range Amritsar, launched an intelligence operation and apprehended the accused from near Shankar Dhaba on Attari Road, he said. PTI CHS RUK RUK