NCB detains two narco smugglers under PITNDPS Act in major crackdown
Aug 17, 2024
Mohali (Punjab) [India], August 17 : The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has taken action and detained drug lord Akshay Chhabra and Jaspal Singh, alias Goldy, under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act on Saturday.
In a press release, the NCB's Chandigarh Zonal Unit stated that both of them will be detained in Dibrugarh, Assam, as a step to curtail their narco-smuggling activities.
It was further mentioned that both the detainees, despite being in jail, had continued their nefarious activities, resulting in three additional FIRs against Akshay Chhabra and one additional FIR under the NDPS Act against Goldy.
This is the second time such action has been taken by the NCB in an effort towards breaking the jail-based drug mafia link in the region.
Earlier on August 13, the first action was taken against Balwinder Singh, alias Billa Havellian.
According to the press release, Akshay Chhabra was arrested from Jaipur International Airport while he was attempting to flee the country to Sharjah, UAE, on November 24, 2022.
During the course of the investigation by the NCB, the name of Jaspal Singh alias Goldy cropped up as one of the main members of Chhabra's drug syndicate.
Upon investigations, it was revealed that this international drug syndicate based in Ludhiana had smuggled close to 1400 kg of heroin from ICP Attari, Punjab, Mundra Sea Port, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir.
A total of 20 people had been arrested by the NCB on this matter, including the kingpin, traffickers, white-collar criminals and two Afghan nationals, the release stated.
To date, the NCB had seized around 40 kg of heroin, 0.557 kg of opium, 23.645 kg of suspected narcotics powder, four bottles of HCL, 31 live bullets and one magazine from the syndicate. Two heroin processing hideouts of this group have also been busted.
The Chandigarh Zonal Unit of the NCB has also frozen more than Rs 57 crore of immovable/movable properties of this drug syndicate to date.
