Fatehgarh Sahib April 17:
Punjab
police arrested an international drug smuggler and dismissed DSP
Jagdish Singh Bhola's close aide Devinder Singh in connection with the
drug haul case in which the name of Olympic medallist and renowned
pugilist Vijender Singh had cropped up.
They
recovered 8.5 kg ephedrine, a chemical used for preparing heroin, worth
Rs 8.50 crore from him. During checking on Chandigarh road police
intercepted the Devinder Singh's white-colour MUV, Fatehgarh Sahib SSP, H
S Mann told reporters today. When it was searched, they recovered the
ephedrine. The chemical was concealed in a plastic bag, he informed.
Two
driving licenses were also recovered from him and one was found to be
fake. The genuine license was issued by District Transport Office
Bathinda and his date of birth was mentioned as August 3, 1986, SSP
added. He is the resident of Thermal Colony, Lehra Mohabat, Bathinda. A
case under various sections of the IPC and under the provisions of the
NDPS Act was registered against the accused at Fatehgarh Sahib police
station. The SSP said Devinder Singh during interrogation confessed that
he had close relations with NRI Anoop Singh Kahlon, Jagdish Singh Bhola
and Sarabjit Singh and he was involved in drug trafficking and hawala
with them.
According
to the SSP, the MUV recovered from Devinder Singh belongs to Sarabjit
Singh on whose instance he was on way to deliver the consignment of
ephedrine. Further investigations were under progress, he said. Devinder
Singh is the 17th accused to be arrested following recovery of 26 kgs
of heroin worth over Rs 100 crore from the house of a Canada-based NRI
Anoop Singh Kahlon at Zirakpur in Mohali on March 3. The others arrested
include Bhindranwale Tigers Force (BTF) terrorist Kulbir Singh Assandh,
another NRI Kulwant Singh, Kahlon's driver Kulwinder Singh alias
Rockey, Kuldip Singh (father of Rockey) and a retired DSP of UP Police
Kirpal Singh (arrested from Meerut) besides Vijender's sparring partner
boxer Ram Singh.
The
case has also been in limelight over alleged links of Olympic medallist
boxer Vijender Singh with Kahlon. Punjab Police had on March 31 said
that Singh had consumed heroin 12 times after procuring it from alleged
drug smugglers including Kahlon. They however, said that the boxer was
not involved in the smuggling of narcotics. Vijender has denied any
involvement in the drugs racket
