Amritsar police arrested a man and his son, considered ‘big fish’ in the drug trade, and recovered ₹1 lakh drug money and weapons from their possession, said Punjab director general of police Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday.
The arrested persons have been identified as Amolak Singh and his son Mahabir Singh, both residents of Thatha village in Tarn Taran, police said.
Apart from recovering drug money, police teams have recovered a fake arms licence, two weapons, one .30-bore pistol along with two magazines and 15 live cartridges and one .306 single barrel Springfield rifle along with five live cartridges, from their possession, besides impounding their car, the DGP said.
The development came almost a year after Amritsar police had nominated the duo in an FIR registered under Sections 21C, 23, 27A and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Sections 212 and 216 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station, Gate Hakiman.
In this case, seven accused, including two brothers, also considered as ‘big fish’ in drug trafficking identified as Manjit Singh alias Manna and Lavjit Singh alias Lav alias Labh, were earlier arrested with 3kg heroin, ₹5 lakh in drug money, and vehicles used in the crime.
Pertinently, both the accused brothers have been absconding since 2015 and were also wanted by the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI), Mumbai in a 260kg heroin seizure and Delhi Special Cell in a 356kg heroin seizure case.
The DGP said that a preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused Amolak Singh was operating a drug cartel along with his son. “Amolak had been out of jail since 2019 but remained active and absconding for years,” the DGP said, adding that 10 FIRs under the NDPS Act and Arms Act have been registered against him across Punjab.
The DGP said that during the investigation, the arms license recovered from the possession of the accused was found to be fake. Further probe is underway, and more recoveries are expected, he added.
Amritsar commissioner of police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said that following reliable inputs, police teams conducted a raid at the residence of Amolak and his son Mahabir, located at Preet Vihar in Amritsar and nabbed both the accused persons.
The CP said that preliminary investigations have revealed that both the accused had numerous properties in and out of the state, and used to change their residences frequently to evade arrest.
Further investigations are on, he added.