The Punjab Police has arrested an Army jawan and three more accused in connection with the illegal arms and drug smuggling racket busted last week with the arrest of a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and three others.
The total number of persons arrested in the case so far now stands at eight, said Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta, adding that the Punjab Police was actively engaged in following the money trail to eradicate the drug menace from the state.

Giving details of the latest arrests, the DGP said that Ramandeep Singh, an Indian Army soldier, was apprehended from Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), where he was currently posted, on the basis of disclosures made by BSF constable Sumit Kumar, who was arrested alongwith three accomplices by Jalandhar (Rural) police a week ago.

Advertisement

Ramandeep’s three accomplices, Taranjot Singh, Jagjit Singh and Satinder Singh have also been arrested and are being brought on production warrants. Another Rs 10 lakh has been recovered as drug money, taking the total amount of such money seized in the case to Rs 42.30 lakh.

Sumit, who belonged to the same village (Magar Mudian in Gurdaspur) as Ramandeep,, had disclosed during questioning that he was lured by his village classmate the Army jawan, into the cross-border narco-weapons smuggling racket. The duo was also lodged together in Gurdaspur Jail after committing a murder in their village. Sumit Kumar was bailed out on 1 April 2018 and Ramandeep Singh was bailed out on 14 September, 2019.

According to the DGP, Ramandeep was running the drugs and weapons smuggling racket in conspiracy with Taranjot Singh and Satinder Singh alias Kaala. Kaala was, for some time, lodged in Amritsar Jail, where he came in contact with Maulvi, a Pakistani national, who introduced him to Pakistani smugglers.

Gupta said from Amritsar Jail, Satinder was shifted to Kapurthala jail where he befriended Taranjot Singh and made him into an accomplice. After Kaala underlined the need for involvement of a BSF man in the racket, Ramandeep Singh persuaded Sumit to join the drug smuggling module.

The DGP said that Sumit used to send photographs of the fencing, drug-delivery locations and others to Kaala. After the delivery of the consignment on the Indian side at a pre-determined time and place, three other accomplices used to collect it from Sumit Kumar.

The DGP said that out of Rs 39 lakh, Rs. 32.30 lakh was received by Sumit Kumar to be distributed equally between him and Ramandeep Singh.