Amritsar Police Bust Turkey-Linked Narco-Hawala Cartel, Arrest Three with ₹1.06 Cr Drug Money and 1.10 kg Heroin
Chandigarh/Amritsar, May 12, 2025
In a significant breakthrough under the Punjab government’s anti-drug campaign Yudh Nashian Virudh, initiated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Amritsar Commissionerate Police dismantled a Turkey-based narco-hawala cartel, arresting three operatives, announced Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav on Monday.
The arrested individuals are Gurdeep Singh alias Saab (35), a taxi driver from Amritsar; Pardeep Sharma (29), a garment shop worker from Bikaner, Rajasthan; and Mani Sharma (36), a Ludhiana-based garments businessman. Police recovered 1.10 kg of heroin, ₹1.06 crore in hawala money (₹84.02 lakh cash and ₹22 lakh frozen in bank accounts), a cash counting machine, and a Swift Dzire car without a number plate. watch…..Mann Government Approves Anti-Drone Systems to Combat Pakistan-Backed Terror Funding
DGP Yadav revealed that Gurdeep Singh was running the local network under instructions from Turkey-based smuggler Navpreet Singh alias Nav Bhullar, a wanted figure in multiple drug and hawala cases across central and state agencies. Bhullar provided Gurdeep with a hideout in Amritsar and logistical support to operate the cartel. Investigations to uncover further backward and forward linkages are ongoing.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar detailed the operation, stating that acting on precise intelligence, a team led by CIA-1 Incharge Amolakdeep Singh apprehended Gurdeep near Lok Heart School, Ram Tirath Road, recovering the drugs and cash. The operation, supervised by DCP Detective Ravinderpal Singh, ADCP Detective Jagbinder Singh, and ACP Detective Harminder Singh Sandhu, led to Gurdeep implicating Pardeep Sharma and Mani Sharma, who had each delivered ₹5 lakh in drug money. Both were subsequently arrested.
CP Bhullar added that further investigations are expected to yield additional arrests and recoveries in the coming days.
A case has been registered under FIR No. 76, dated May 6, 2025, under sections 21-C, 27-A, 25, and 29 of the NDPS Act at Cantonment Police Station, Amritsar.
