60 kg heroin seizure: ‘Hawala operator’ held

Days after the seizure of 60 kg heroin from the Indo-Pak border with Rajasthan, the Amritsar city police have arrested an alleged Hawala racketeer in the case from Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

He was identified as Laxman, alias Lucky. his role in the racket is being verified by the police. The police have recovered some documents from his possession.

According to the police, he was not aware of the money, being routed through Hawala racket, was part of the drug trade. During preliminary investigations, Laxman revealed that he had transferred money at the behest of his owner who had relatives in Dubai, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was told that the payment was meant for dry fruit and red chilli.

Laxman was produced in a local court on Wednesday. He is currently in police custody for further investigation.

In a joint operation with the Border Security Force (BSF) and Rajasthan cops, the Amritsar police arrested nine persons, including a woman, and recovered 60-kg heroin near the India-Pakistan border in Barmer, Rajasthan. This is Punjab’s second biggest drug seizure during 2025 after 85 kg narcotics were seized by the Tarn Taran police on May 16.

The nine persons, including drug traffickers and Hawala operators, were held from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. The cartel was being operated by Pakistan-based smuggler Tanveer Shan and Canada-based handler Joban Kaler.

Apart from Prashotam Singh, alias Kala (50), a resident of Simbal camp in Jammu, who was involved in the Delhi bomb blast in Paharganj area in 2000, the police arrested Gagandeep Singh, alias Gagan (23), of Rampura village here. Jashanpreet Singh, alias Jashan (20), of Khurmania village here, Gursahib Singh (25) of Boparai Baj village, Rajeev Panjgotra, alias Rajveer (29), of Kalyana village in J&K, Somnath (62) of Fatehpur Brahmana in J&K, Kulwinder Singh (24) of Mullechak village in Amritsar and Rajinder Kaur (42) of Tanda village in J&K, besides one Hawala operator.

Amritsar