POLICE TEAMS ALSO RECOVER 372 GRAMS GOLD, IMPOUND FOUR LUXURY VEHICLES, ARRESTED ACCUSED HARBHAJ ALIAS BHEJA EMERGES AS MASTERMIND, WAS IN CONTACT WITH PAKISTANI-DRUG SMUGGLER SHEHBAZ FROM INSIDE THE JAIL, SAYS DGP GAURAV YADAV, ANTF TEAMS ALSO IDENTIFIED PROPERTIES WORTH HUNDRED OF CRORES, PROCESS INITIATED TO FREEZE THEM: DGP PUNJAB,  PUNJAB POLICE ARRESTS 3868 DRUG SMUGGLERS AFTER REGISTRATION OF 2177 FIRs IN 24 DAYS; RECOVERS 135KG HEROIN, 82KG OPIUM AND ₹5.42-CR DRUG MONEY

Face2News/Chandigarh

Striking a major blow to the narco-terrorism hawala networks amidst the ongoing anti-drugs campaign ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of the Punjab Police with the support of Central Agencies has arrested 11 persons— including five drug smugglers, three drug hawala money couriers and three hawala traders— and recovered drug money in different foreign currencies amounting to Rs 5.09 crores, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday. 

The arrested Hawala traders have been identified as Ashok Kumar Sharma (60), an owner of Phagwara-based Sharma Forex Money Changer, and his accomplices Rajesh Kumar (50) of Mutiarpur Mohalla in Phagwara and Amit Bansal alias Sunil (47) of Sukhchain Nagar in Phagwara.

The development came following two months of meticulous investigations and sustained follow-up of backward and forward linkages in the arrest of two individuals Harjinder Singh alias Ajay and Harmanjit Singh alias Harry after recovering 263 grams heroin and Rs 5.60 lakh drug money from their possession on January 21, 2025. 

DGP Gaurav Yadav, while addressing a press conference, said during the investigations in this case police teams from ANTF arrested three hawala money couriers Saurav Mahajan, Tanush and Harminder alias Harry on the very next day, and recovered Rs 47.50 lakhs drug money, besides impounding their Mahindra XUV 300 vehicle. Following the trail of investigations, on January 24, police teams have successfully arrested two more drug smugglers identified as Sagar and Lavdeep Singh alias Lala, and Rs 5 lakh drug money along with an Activa scooter and 160 grams heroin were recovered from them, he added.

The further investigations into this case has led the police teams to expose the role of an inmate lodged in Central Jail Amritsar identified as Harbhaj Singh alias Bheja, who emerged as the mastermind of this racket and was found to be in contact with Pakistani drug smuggler Shahbaz from inside the jail, he said, while adding that on January 26, the accused was brought on production warrant from Central Jail Amritsar and formally arrested in this case. 

Pertinently, Pakistani smuggler Shehbaz, a resident of village Burewal in district Narowal had illegally entered India, and FIR under relevant sections was registered against him in February 2021, following which, he had remained lodged in Central Jail, Amritsar before his deportation to Pakistan. 

The DGP said that preliminary investigations have revealed that accused Harbhaj Singh and Harmanjit alias Harry were introduced to Pak-based smuggler Shehbaz, when they together were lodged in the Central Jail Amritsar. After his release from the jail, the latter established a link with these individuals via mobile phones to run the drug smuggling business and also involved Harminder alias Harry in this business, he added. 

During interrogation, arrested accused Harmanjit and Harminder revealed that they were using services of Sharma Forex Money Exchanger and Forex Advisor in Phagwara to deposit drug money as per the instructions of Pakistani smuggler Shehbaz, he said, while adding that, police teams have nominated the owner Ashok Sharma and his accomplice Sunil in the case and arrested both of them on March 17 and March 18 respectively.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that based on technical information, police teams have also arrested Ashok Sharma’s another associate identified as Rajesh alias Bobby from his house and Rs 50.50 lakh was recovered his possession. 

He said that during the further course of investigations police teams have recovered an additional Rs 36.59 lakhs (taking total recovery of Indian currency to Rs 1.45 crores), 2,63,630 Euros, 7000 US Dollars, 10,020 Canadian Dollars, 27,500 Pounds and 285 Dirhams, besides, recovering 372 grams gold from different locations. Apart from Mahindra XUV 300, Police teams have also impounded their three more vehicles including BMW, Mahindra Thar Automatic and Hyundai i10. 

The DGP said that the ANTF has also identified illegal properties of this network worth of Rs 100s of crores and the process has been initiated to freeze them under section 68F of the NDPS act. Probe has also revealed that the network unearthed till now spans from Amritsar to Tarn Taran to Phagwara to Panchkula, he said.  “Police teams have nominated seven more persons in this case and manhunt is on to nab them,” he added. 

Meanwhile, sharing outcomes of the 24 days of ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, the DGP said that Punjab Police arrested of 3868 drug smugglers after registering of 2177 first information reports (FIRs) across the state since March 1, 2025. During this drive, Police teams have recovered 135.5 kg heroin, 82.9 kg opium, 1419 kg poppy husk, 34.24 kg Ganja, 7.58 lakh intoxicant tablets/pills/injections, 1 kg ICE and Rs 5.42 crores drug money from the possession of arrested drug smugglers, he said.