EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VINAY KOCHHAR. Amritsar / Chandigarh.
In a major blow to the international drug smuggling and hawala gang during the anti-drug campaign, Commissionerate Police Amritsar has busted the narco-hawala gang belonging to Turkey-based smuggler Navpreet Singh alias Nav Bhullar by arresting three operatives of the gang. This information was given here today by Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav.
Identification of the alleged criminals
The arrested persons have been identified as Gurdeep Singh alias Saab (35), a taxi driver from Amritsar, Pradeep Sharma (29), a cloth shopkeeper from Bikaner, Rajasthan and Mani Sharma (36), a cloth businessman from Ludhiana. Police teams have seized 1.10 kg heroin, hawala money worth Rs 1.06 crore (Rs 84.02 lakh in cash and Rs 22 lakh frozen in bank accounts), a money counting machine and also seized his Swift Dzire car (without number plate).
Important information revealed in investigation
DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that accused Gurdeep was running a local network of hawala and drug smuggling at the behest of his handler Nav Bhullar and Nav Bhullar was providing him a house to use as a hiding place in Amritsar and all the logistics support to run the gang. He further said that accused Nav Bhullar is wanted by various central and state agencies in major cases related to narcotics and hawala. The DGP said that further investigation is going on to find out the past and future connections of this gang.
..Know from where the arrests were made..?
Giving information about the operation, Police Commissioner (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that acting on intelligence, Incharge CIA-1 Amolak Deep Singh along with the police team strategically formed various teams and arrested Gurdeep Singh alias Sahab from near Lok Heart School, Ram Tirth Road, Amritsar and recovered a consignment of narcotics and drug money from his possession. This action was carried out under the supervision of DCP Detective Ravinder Pal Singh, ADCP Detective Jagbinder Singh and ACP Detective Harminder Singh Sandhu.
From whom the drug money was recovered….Know in this report….?
The CP said that during interrogation, accused Gurdeep Singh mentioned about the involvement of accused Pradeep Sharma and Mani Sharma and also revealed that they had delivered drug money of Rs 5 lakh each. He said that after this disclosure, the police teams successfully trapped and arrested both the accused. He further informed that further investigation in this case is going on. In this regard, FIR number 76 dated 06-05-2025 has been registered at Police Station Cantonment, Amritsar under sections 21-C, 27-A, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act.