Chandigarh: Amidst the ongoing war against drugs waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Counter Intelligence Amritsar has seized over ₹1.07 crore drug money and apprehended two operatives of foreign-based top drug smugglers Gurjant Singh alias Bholu and Kinderbir Singh alias Sunny Dyal, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Sunday.

Those arrested have been identified as Dilbag Singh, a resident of village Lohka in Tarn Taran and Kamaldeep Singh, a resident of Patti in Tarn Taran. Apart from seizing drug money, Police teams have also recovered one money counting machine and two mobile phones from the possession, besides, impounding their Maruti Swift car.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the Counter Intelligence Amritsar has received intel-inputs that foreign-based drug smugglers Gurjant Bholu and Sunny Dyal are running an organised crime syndicate involved in drug trafficking and illegal weapons distribution across the state and have tasked their operatives to collect the drug money and send them using Hawala route.

He said that in an intelligence-based operation, Police teams from Counter Intelligence Amritsar have arrested two of their operatives identified as Dilbag Singh and Kamaldeep Singh from a rented accommodation at Fatehgarh Churian Road, Amritsar.

The DGP said preliminary investigations have revealed that both the arrested persons were in constant touch with both Gurjant Bholu and Sunny Dyal via encrypted social media platforms and were to send the recovered drug money worth over ₹1 crore to them using Hawala route.

Both Gurjant Bholu and Sunny Dyal have been facing several criminal cases due to their involvement in criminal activities, he said, while adding that further investigations are on to establish backward and forward linkages in this case.

A case FIR No. 45 dated 27.07.2024 has been registered under sections 21, 25, 27-A and 29 of the NDPS Act, section 25 of the Arms Act and sections 111 and 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act at Police Station State Special Operations Cell (SSOC), Amritsar. The accused will be produced before the local court to procure police remand of both the arrested persons.

(With Inputs From Agencies)