International drug cartel busted near India-Pakistan border

In a major crackdown on drug trafficking amidst the ongoing anti-drugs ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ campaign launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Amritsar Commissionerate Police, with the support of Border Security Force (BSF) and Rajasthan Police, has busted a major international drug cartel being operated by Pak-based smuggler Tanveer Shah and Canada-based handler Joban Kaler and recovered huge consignment of 60.302 Kg Heroin from near the International Border in Barmer, Rajasthan, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Monday.

The operation has led to the arrest of at least nine persons including smugglers, traffickers and hawala operators from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir.

Those arrested have been identified as Gagandeep Singh alias Gagan (23) of village Rampura in Amritsar, Jashanpreet Singh alias Jashan (20) of village Khurmania in Amritsar, Gursahib Singh (25) of village Boparai Baj in Amritsar, Rajeev Panjgotra alias Rajveer (29) of village Kalyana in J&K, Somnath (62) of Fatehpur Brahmana in J&K, Prashotam Singh alias Kala (50) of Simbal camp in J&K, Kulwinder Singh (24) of village Mullechak in Amritsar, Rajinder Kaur (42) of village Tanda in J&K and one hawala-operator.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the drug cartel was being operated by Pakistan-based smuggler Tanveer Shah and Canada-based smuggler Joban Kaler with the help of local kingpin Gursahib Singh, who was already lodged in Goindwal Sahib Jail but continued to run the network from inside the jail using a mobile phone. His phone has been recovered with the help of jail authorities and his production warrant was obtained for deeper probe into Canada-Pakistan linkages, he said.

The DGP said that further investigations are on to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.

Sharing more details, Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that the operation began after Gursahib Singh was arrested last month with 1 kg heroin from Chheharta. Despite being in jail, accused Gursahib operated through his nephew Jashanpreet Singh and associate Gagandeep Singh, who were arrested with 102 gm heroin. Their interrogation led to the huge 60 kg heroin consignment in Barmer, he said.

He said that during investigation, the hawala network used for routing drug money has also been exposed with the arrest of hawala-operator.

The operation was conducted under the supervision of DCP (D) City Ravinderpal Singh, ADCP (D) Jagbinder Singh, ADCP-2 Harpal Singh, ACP (D) Yadwinder Singh, ACP West Shivdarshan Singh, SHO Chheharta Vinod Sharma, CIA-1 Incharge Amolakdeep Singh and CIA-2 Incharge Ravi Kumar.

The CP said that probe has also revealed that drugs were being smuggled from across the Indo-Pak border and routed through Rajasthan to Punjab, with further local distribution channels. Further working on backward linkages five more accused associated with Tanveer Shah of Pakistan were also identified and raids are being conducted to nab them, he said.

A case FIR No. 118 dated 17/06/2025 under sections 21-B, 21-C, 27-B and 29 of NDPS Act has been registered at Police Station Chheharta in Amritsar.