5kg heroin, weapons seized in Asr; 10 held

Amritsar: The commissionerate police claims to have busted two organised cross-border smuggling modules, following the arrest of 10 accused and recovery of a significant cache of drugs and arms.Amritsar police commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said on Saturday that during the operation, the police seized 5.4kg heroin, three sophisticated pistols — including a Glock 9mm, a Zigana 9mm, and a .32 bore weapon — along with 34 live cartridges and Rs 4,500 identified as drug money.Bhullar said preliminary investigations indicated that the accused were in direct contact with Pakistan-based smugglers through social media platforms. The consignments of heroin and illegal arms were pushed into the Indian territory and then distributed through a well-structured network operating across various districts of Punjab.Multiple FIRs were registered under relevant sections, including the NDPS Act and Arms Act, he said, adding that the investigators were probing the forward and backward linkages to identify full chain of operatives and dismantle the entire network.