Pratapgarh police freeze assets linked to drug smuggler under Op Trinetra

Udaipur: Pratapgarh police attached and froze illegal properties linked to smuggler Asad Iqbal, allegedly acquired through proceeds of drug trade.

According to Rathanjana SHO Vijendra Singh, the action, conducted under Operation Trinetra, followed a case registered on Dec 3, 2024, at Neemuch Cantt police station, where Sub-Inspector Rajendra Singh Sisodiya of Madhya Pradesh and his team stopped and searched a suspicious car during a blockade and recovered 2.8kg of illegal opium from Asad Iqbal, a resident of village Panmodi in Pratapgarh district, who was travelling in the car. Police had registered a case under the NDPS Act and sent the accused to jail.

After the arrest, a special team of Pratapgarh police was formed under the guidance of SP B. Aditya to conduct a financial investigation into the accused’s alleged illegal earnings and identify movable and immovable properties. The investigation revealed that the accused earned crores of rupees through long-running inter-state smuggling of opium and doda-chura, police said.

Police said that using the alleged proceeds, the accused constructed a luxurious mansion in his ancestral village, Panmodi, with a current market value of about Rs 70 lakh, and purchased a car in his own name, with a current market value of Rs 10 lakh.

Police said Asad Iqbal was a habitual drug smuggler, and that six serious cases under the NDPS Act were registered against him in different districts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.