Gang used stolen vehicles to ferry drugs, busted

BATHINDA: Bathinda police have busted a gang of drug peddlers' who were using stolen vehicles for ferrying the narcotics. Their idea was to weaken the evidence against them and to mislead the prosecution, police said.
The three members of the gang would just leave the vehicle behind if they feared getting caught by the police. Surinder Kumar, 37, of Rampura in Bathinda; Balwinder Singh, 29, and Rajdev Singh, 28, of Bhadaur in Barnala were arrested on Wednesday.Police recovered 5kg opium, four cars and three motorcycles from them.
Already serving a 10-year sentence in a drug peddling case, Surinder came out parole recently. Balwinder faces three cases of vehicle lifting in Mansa, Bathinda and Jagraon and was declared a proclaimed offender by a Bathinda court. Rajdev also had a theft case against him at Bhadaur. Balwinder and Rajdev also used to sell stolen vehicles using forged documents.
Bathinda SSP Inder Mohan Singh said that police had come across new trend of drug peddling using stolen vehicles to weaken evidence. He said, "On Wednesday, we arrested Surinder from Mehraj village near Rampura while he was travelling in a stolen hatchback car and recovered 5kg opium. He had got the drug from Madhya Pradesh for Rs 1.2 lakh per kg and planned to sell it at Rs 1.5 lakh per kg."
The SSP said on Thursday, Balwinder and Rajdev were arrested from near Mittal Mall when they were travelling in a stolen white car without a registration plate. They took the police to Surinder's godown at Rampura where an SUV and another car, apart from three stolen motorcycles, were found.