20 Kg Heroin Seized In Punjab; International Drug Racket Busted: Police

An international drug racket having links across the border was busted following the recovery of 20 kg heroin and the arrest of one person in Punjab's Ludhiana, said the Narcotics Control Bureau on Thursday.

Besides heroin, cash amounting to Rs 5.86 lakh, foreign currency (Dirham) worth Rs 2,850, two bullets, 20 branded watches, 250 grams of silver coins, 17 grams of opium, two laptops, five pen drives, seven sim cards, five mobile phones and some documents have been recovered by the NCB's Chandigarh unit, a senior official said.

"It was a meticulously planned operation in which we arrested one key person and seized more than 20 kg of heroin," Deputy Director General of NCB (Chandigarh) Gyaneshwar Singh said.

With this seizure, an international racket having links across the border and Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab has been unearthed, he said.

"We expect to get more details about this syndicate," he said, adding two more accused have been identified and efforts are on to nab them.

Mr Singh said the arrested person is from Ludhiana and efforts are on to gather details about his criminal background.

He said the narcotics were received in Ludhiana for further distribution. The drug smugglers sitting across the border were using Punjab's criminal network for drug supply.

During the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the NCB had conducted a special drive against inter-state drug syndicates, he said.

Three inter-state gangs were busted with the recovery of around 14 kg charas and seven people were arrested in different cases.

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