3 smugglers held in Jalandhar; drug worth Rs40 crore recovered

Three drug smugglers were arrested, and 18 kg of narcotics worth more than Rs40 crore inthe international market were recovered from their possession here today, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, Pankaj Kumar and Narinder Aggarwal were arrested from Doraha-Ludhiana road in the city, and 14 kg of Methamphetamine were found hidden in a car in which they were travelling, AIG (Counter Intelligence Department) Opinderjit Singh Ghumman told reporters here.

On the information given by the duo during their interrogation, their third accomplice Sanjeev Singh, a resident of Mayur Vihar area in Delhi, was arrested from Partapra area here, and 4 kg of Methamphetamine was recovered from his possession, the AIG said.

During investigation, it came to light that Sanjeev was an NRI, and was deported from England after completion of 10 years of imprisonment in a case related to narcotics. He was arrested by Mumbai police two years back and currently on bail in the case, he said.

Meanwhile, a case under NDPS Act has been registered against the accused with Special Operation Cell at Amritsar, Ghumman said, without ruling out the involvement of international gang in the busted drug racket.