Amritsar Police bust two interlinked cross-border drug cartels, 7.05 kg heroin seized, 5 arrested

In a major breakthrough amid the ongoing drive to make Punjab a drug-free state, as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Amritsar Commissionerate Police has busted two interlinked cross-border narcotics smuggling cartels with the arrest of five accused persons and recovered 7.050 kg of heroin from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.

The arrested accused have been identified as Deepak Singh alias Deepu (22), a resident of Harkrishan Nagar in Chheharta, Amritsar; Prince Singh alias Prince, a resident of village Kohala in Amritsar; and Rajinder Singh alias Ghuddu (23), Randeep Singh alias Dil (19), and Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi (21), all residents of village Sensra Kalan in Amritsar. Apart from recovering heroin, police teams have also impounded a motorcycle used for drug trafficking.

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DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused were in contact with a Pakistan-based smuggler, who was sending consignments via drones and coordinating the distribution of drugs across the state through local handlers.

He added that further investigation is underway to establish the forward and backward linkages of this drug smuggling network.

Sharing operational details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that in a targeted operation based on reliable input, police teams arrested Deepak Singh alias Deepu and recovered 1.3 kg of heroin from his possession. During further interrogation, an additional 2.6 kg of heroin was recovered, taking the total recovery in this case to 4.04 kg, he said.

He further stated that during the investigation into the common Pakistan-based handler, police teams arrested three more accused—Rajinder alias Ghuddu, Randeep alias Dil, and Gurpreet alias Gopi—and recovered 1.01 kg of heroin from their possession. Based on their disclosure, their fourth associate, Prince Singh alias Prince, was also apprehended, and 2 kg of heroin was recovered from his possession, he added.

The CP said that the arrested accused, Deepak Singh alias Deepu, has previous criminal involvement under the NDPS Act, with a case registered at Khanna.

In this regard, two separate cases – FIR No. 77 dated 08-04-2026 under Section 21-C of the NDPS Act at Police Station Chheharta, and FIR No. 61 dated 17-04-2026 under Section 21-C of the NDPS Act at Police Station Cantonment – have been registered.