In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive against drugs launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police in a joint operation with central agencies has apprehended an International drug smuggler identified as Simranjot Singh Sandhu (30), who is a kingpin of 487Kg cocaine smuggling case (2020) in Germany, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Saturday.

The development came after meticulous investigations of backward and forward linkages carried out by the Moga Police into the arrest of a local drug smugglers identified as Beant Singh and Sukhdeep Singh, who were arrested with 1kg heroin on June 16, 2024. On their statement, Moga Police had nominated a Mandeep Singh— presently based in USA, and Simranjot Singh, who was allegedly searching for purchasers for heroin in Punjab on the directions of the former.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the accused Simranjot Sandhu is a key lynchpin of an international drug cartel and is wanted in Germany for drug offences. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused, with international links, played a major role in smuggling drugs in India and other European countries, he added.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Headquarters Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill accompanied by DIG Faridkot Range Ashwani Kapur and SSP Moga Dr Ankur Gupta, while sharing more details during a press conference, said that during the follow-up investigations into the 1kg heroin recovery case, Moga Police has arrested accused Simranjot Sandhu, a native of village Gokhuwal in Batala, from village Bhaloor in Moga.

He said that the accused Simranjot, who went to Germany in 2002, was working as a taxi driver and during the period from March 2020 and June 2020, the accused had stored and transported at least 487kg cocaine, 66kg marijuana and 10kg hashish being supplied from Brazil and other South American countries and landed at port of Hamburg Germany. The accused used to communicate on an encrypted mobile app ‘Encrochat’ through which drug network was unearthed by the Germany police, he said.

Later, the accused was convicted for 8 years and 6 months under section 29 of the Narcotic Drugs Act by Germany courts on February 28, 2022, but without completing sentence he fled away to Dubai in July 2023 and then came to India in September 2023.

The IGP said that since 11 months, accused Simranjot has been staying at various places in India including Amritsar, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Moga, etc to elude arrest. Detailed interrogation of the arrested accused is being done to verify his activities in India, he said.

A case FIR no 16-6-2024 had already been registered under section 21 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Ajitwal in Moga.