Punjab: Five veterinary officers dismissed
In a bold move to address negligence and absenteeism, Punjab Animal Husbandry Department on Thursday terminated the services of five veterinary officers with immediate effect.
The Punjab Police have busted a cross-border smuggling module backed by Pakistan’s external spy agency ISI with the arrest of its two operatives, including a model and singer by profession, from Mohali, India.
Assistant Inspector General (AIG), State Special Operation Cell, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Ashwani Kapur said 2.30 bore pistols along with ten live cartridges have been recovered from their possession.
Those arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh alias Gora, Armaan Chauhan, a resident of village Kot Ise Khan in Moga and Rohit Singh, a resident of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan.
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Both the accused have a criminal background as cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act NDPS registered against them in Punjab, while, they were also wanted by the Narcotics Control Bureau in a commercial quantity drug smuggling case registered in Rajasthan.
Kapur said preliminary investigations suggest that the accused were key members of a highly-organised cross-border smuggling module that had direct links to Pakistan-based drug smugglers. The module was actively involved in smuggling of contraband across the Indo-Pakistan border, posing a significant threat to national security, he said.
The accused Gurpreet Singh alias Gora, who is a model and singer by profession, played crucial roles in facilitating the movement of Hawala money — an illegal and clandestine method of transferring funds, which further enabled the financing of the cross-border smuggling activities.
The other accused, Rohit Singh used to provide location coordinates to Pakistan entities along the Rajasthan and Punjab border via Gurpreet Singh alias Gora and thus facilitated the retrieval of heroin consignments via drones.
Further investigations are underway to identify and apprehend other individuals associated with this module, said the AIG.
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