Amidst the ongoing war against drugs waged on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police in a joint operation with Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has detained notorious drug smuggler identified as Balwinder Singh alias Billa Sarpanch from Gurdaspur city area, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Tuesday. The accused Balwinder Billa, who is a native of village Havelian in Tarn Taran and presently on bail, has been facing over 15 criminal cases, majority of them related with NDPS act and Arms Act.
The DGP said that drug smuggler Balwinder Billa has been detained under section 3 (1) of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in NDPS Act (PIT-NDPS) and sent to Dibrugarh in Assam. The detenue will be lodged in Dibrugarh jail during the detention period, he added. The DGP said that the detenue drug smuggler is involved in trans-border drug smuggling networks with Pakistani smugglers.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amritsar Rural Charanjit Singh said that following reliable inputs about the presence of the Balwinder Billa in the area of Gurdaspur City, Police teams from Amritsar Rural led by DSP Gurinder Singh Nagra under the supervision of SP Investigation Harinder Singh Gill along with teams from NCB detained the accused drug smuggler. Further investigations are on to trace his other accomplices and identify the Pak-based drug smugglers, he added.
