Customs officer held with heroin worth Rs. 50 cr in Jalandhar

Sunday, 05/05/2013

http://punjabnewsline.com/news/Customs-official-held-with-10-kg-heroin-in-Jalandhar.html

JALANDHAR: District rural police have arrested a superintendent of Central Excise and Customs department posted at Attari Railway Station and seized 10 kg of heroin from his possession.

SSP Rural Yurinder Singh Hayer said today that the persons arrested had been identified as Gurdev Singh, a resident of Patti in Tarn Taran district. He said that a mouser pistol, nine cartridges and a sum of Rs. 17, 000 had also been recovered from his possession. He said the cost of the contraband seized is said to be Rs. 50 crore in the international market.

He said that on a tip off the police laid a trap in the area of Kartarpur police station and as soon a Tata Safari SUV arrived near the police naka, the cops asked the person driving the SUV to come out of the vehicle. During search of the vehicle the police seized heroin concealed under the driving seat of the vehicle.

During preliminary investigations, Gurdev Singh revealed that he was handed over the consignment suspected to be sent from across the border to be delivered to some persons in Jalandhar. He also said that he was to be paid a sum of Rs. 50, 000 per kg for safe delivery of the contraband.The SSP said that more revelations were expected during police remand of the culprit.The accused told the police that he had already delivered a consignment of 8 to 9 kg of heroin in Ludhiana.

The SSP said that being a superintendent in the department of Central Excise and Customs, the accused had come in contact with several smugglers including drug peddlers and was known to them personally even who started taking his services as carrier of drug consignments. He said that the accused joined the department as an inspector in 1980 and was promoted as Superintendent in 1997 and had served the department at many important places of Jammu, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh and currently he was posted at Attari Railway station.

During his long tenure of service since 1980 he had become familiar not only among the department but also in the drug trade.