The Hindu – 26 kg heroin seized in Punjab

Chandigarh, March 8, 2013. Punjab Police on Thursday said it had busted an international drug-peddling nexus, with the arrest of a Canada-based Indian and his accomplice with 26 kg of expensive heroin in the state’s Fatehgarh Sahib district.

Senior police officers said that the heroin was worth Rs. 130 crore in the international market.

Fatehgarh Sahib district police chief H.S. Mann said that the police had busted a nexus between drug peddlers operating in India and western countries by nabbing its main kingpin, Anoop Singh Kahlon and his associate Kulwinder Singh.

He said that Mr. Kahlon was the main kingpin and they were used to smuggle the drugs to the various countries of Europe and North America. The duo was nabbed following a tip-off.

Police also recovered Rs. 8.94 lakh in cash, C$9,045, an Innova MUV and other foreign currency from Kahlon. The total currency was worth about Rs. 13.86 lakh, he added.

Police also recovered some weapons from their possession.

Mr. Mann said that Kahlon has been residing in Canada along with his family since 1995. A truck driver there, Mr. Kahlon had made a strong network of drug peddling not only in the U.S. and Canada but in some European countries.

He used to come to India frequently.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/26-kg-heroin-seized-in-punjab/article4487595.ece

The Hindu – Punjab police arrest top militant

Special Correspondent

Chandigarh, 28 February 2013. The Punjab police on Wednesday claimed a major success with the arrest of top militant Narain Singh Chaura by teams from the Tarn Taran and Amritsar district .

According to an official release from the office of the Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence) here, Chaura was arrested from Jalalabad village in Tarn Taran and his associates Sukhwant Singh and Sukhdev Singh were nabbed from Pandori village under the Majitha police district of Amritsar. All three were arrested late on Tuesday.

The release claimed that following disclosures during initial interrogation of the three, the police raided a hideout in Kurali village of SAS Nagar district near Chandigarh and recovered arms and ammunition. The police have registered a case under various Sections of the law, including the Arms act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Chaura, who used various pseudonyms — Shamsher Singh alias Shera, Chamkaur Singh and Kapoor Singh Jamraudh — was wanted in around two dozen cases related to terrorist activity. He was associated with organisations such as the Akal Federation and the Khalistan Liberation Army. The police had placed a prize of Rs. 10 lakh for his arrest.

The release detailed that in 1984 Chaura crossed over to Pakistan and was instrumental in smuggling of large consignments of weapons and explosives into Punjab during the initial stages of militancy. While in Pakistan, he authored a book on guerrilla warfare and other “seditious” literature.

Chaura returned to India in 1986, went underground and again crossed over to Pakistan. In 1989, he came back to operate in India under assumed names. He was arrested for his alleged involvement in the sensational Burail jailbreak case here.

Though he was released on bail in the case in 2005, the police have alleged that in December, 2009 and January, 2010, he procured huge quantities of arms and explosives from Pakistan and distributed the same to terrorist modules in Punjab.

The police have commended the efforts of Sukhdev Singh, who is posted as Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) in Tarn Taran, and Inspector Sanjeev Kumar, posted as SHO at the Civil Lines police station in Amritsar, for tracking and arresting the militants.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/punjab-police-arrest-top-militant/article4460061.ece

The Tribune – Law to nail fraud NRI grooms soon; Sukhbir orders census of deserted brides; Punjab Police to have all-women commando unit

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 30. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the state government would come out with a strict law within two months to ensure Punjabi girls were not duped by NRI bridegrooms.

Speaking at a seminar on “Overseas marriages” organised jointly by the Punjab Police and the National Commission for Women, Sukhbir said, “The law will check “holiday marriages” and marital frauds by NRIs. Punjab will not tolerate any fraud being committed with its daughters.”

Sukhbir said the law would stipulate complete verification of NRIs seeking to marry a Punjabi girl, compulsory registration of such marriages and getting details of NRI grooms from Indian consulates abroad.

The Doaba region of Punjab has witnessed maximum frauds NRI marriages.

About deserted brides, he said, “I have directed the police to conduct a census of such deserted wives who will be provided legal assistance. We will take help of the External Affairs Ministry to track the guilty grooms.”

Calling for pressurising NRIs who had deserted their wives in Punjab, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the photographs of offenders should be put on a website so that such grooms and their families could not defraud more people.

The Deputy Chief Minister also announced that the government would recruit 2,000 women police inspectors and a few DSPs over the next six months. “We are in the process of raising an elite all-women based commando unit as part of the Special Services Group. They are going to be trained by Israeli sharp-shooters and would also be handling VVIP security,” he said.

Sukhbir also formally inaugurated a website (www.crimeagainstwomen.co.in) and a helpline 0181-2221645 for women in distress. Hitting out at Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, Sukhbir Badal said the allegation of vendetta was a “desperate attempt by him to seek another extension” for his captaincy of the party after the MC polls.

Former Union Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Punjabi singer Shamina Shafique and Shiromani Akali Dal vice-president Hans Raj Hans also suggested remedial measures to check the malpractice.

Jalandhar Zone IG Gurpreet Deo, incharge of Punjab Police’s NRI wing, said 122 complaints had been received from deserted brides in 2011 and 59 cases had been registered so far this year.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120531/punjab.htm#1