30-year RI for opium smugglers

FARIDKOT: The additional sessions judge on Tuesday sentenced two notorious smugglers and their four employees to rigorous imprisonment for 30 years. The court also fined all the convicts to the tune of Rs 3 lakh each.
On May 18, 2000 the Kotkapura police had raided a house on Devi Wala Road Kotkapura used by the accused Gurmit Singh and Gurmej Singh for storing poppy husk and opium.During search of the house a truckload of poppy husk containing 150 bags of the contraband and 15 kg of opium were seized.
A case under sections 15 and 18 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was registered at Kotkapura police station against smugglers Gurmit Singh and Gurmej Singh and their four employees Mukhtiar Singh, Jagjit Singh, Geja and Sammi. While Mukhtiar and Sammi were nabbed on the spot the remaining accused succeeded in fleeing from the scene and were arrested later on.
Gurmit and Gurmej were reported to be notorious smugglers who supplied opium and poppy husk in Malwa region of Punjab under the shelter of a political leader of the area. The raid was conducted a few days after the death of the leader.