2 drug lords arrested in PGI

CHANDIGARH: It seems to be straight out of a Bollywood film " sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chandigarh, chasing drug sharks of the region inside a crowded medical institution, exchanging blows, and finally making a huge recovery.
The NCB team, led by its zonal superintendent Nirbhya Singh, laid a trap at PGI on Thursday late evening, and arrested two drug smugglers after a brief chase.According to NCB, the arrested accused were identified as Dinesh Kumar and Ram Niwas (in their early thirties) " both residents of Jhalabad in Rajasthan. The bureau recovered 13kg of opium from their possession, which they had brought to the city from Rajasthan to hand over to a city-based drug smuggler. Besides contraband, NCB also recovered an amount of Rs3.50 lakh, one country-made pistol, four live cartridges, and one Tavera car (with Madhya Pradesh registration number) from their possession.
"Dinesh and Ram are big drug smugglers, and they have their clients in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Rajasthan. They specifically choose government hospital premises to deliver contraband, as chances of raids are minimal at these places. We had constituted five teams to nab them, and were keeping a close tab on their activities for the past over two months. On Thursday, we finally arrested them," said Nirbhay Singh, NCB superintendent.
"Earlier, they had met their clients in different government hospitals in Chandigarh (Sector 32 and Sector 16), and in civil hospitals in various towns of Punjab, like Mohali and Derabassi. We could have arrested them earlier, but we were waiting for the right time after collecting sufficient evidence against them, to make a strong case in court," stated Singh. He said that Rs3.50 lakh " the total amount of the sale proceeds " which was recovered from the accused duo, was collected by Dinesh from one of his clients in Chandigarh. The recovered opium is of high quality, and worth over Rs1 lakh per kg.
After attacking NCB officials, the kingpin of the drug racket in Tricity " Amarjeet Singh, a resident of Khuda Lahora village " managed to flee from PGI. He had come to PGI to collect drugs from the accused duo, but fled from the spot after NCB officials tried to arrest them. While fleeing from the spot, he also bumped his white-coloured Maruti Swift into the NCB superintendent and other officials, who had a narrow escape. The registration number of his car (in which he is absconding) is PB-65-C-0249.