NIA arrests third accused in 2022 Attari border drug haul case

NIA on Saturday said that the third suspect, a key accused wanted in connection with the recovery of 102kg heroin at the Attari border in 2022 has been arrested

NIA logo. Pic/X

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said a key accused wanted in connection with the recovery of 102 kg heroin at the Attari border in April 2022 has been arrested.

Amritpal Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran district in Punjab, was taken into custody by the NIA on Friday, an agency spokesperson said in a statement. He is the third person to be arrested in the case.

The probe so far indicated that Singh was the handler of cash and laundered drug proceeds through banking and hawala channels.

The Customs department had seized a total of 102.784 kg heroin, valued at an estimated Rs 700 crore, in two instalments on April 24 and 26, 2022. The drugs arrived in the country from Afghanistan via the Integrated Check Post at Attari in Amritsar.

The drugs had been concealed in a consignment of Licorice roots (Mulethi).

Singh was detained by Immigration officers on December 12, 2023, while trying to flee to Dubai from the Amritsar International Airport.

The immigration officers detained him on the basis of the orders passed by the competent authority on December 7, 2023, in view of the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against by him by the NIA.

Singh's role in the conspiracy relating to the international drug nexus came to light following the examination of associates of the various persons accused in the case, and also from several incriminating transactions done by him in the bank accounts of the other accused, the NIA said.

The NIA investigations show Singh to have been involved in the larger conspiracy hatched by a global drug cartel.

As part of the drug network, he was the conduit for circulation of drug money to various distributors in India as well as the main accused settled abroad, the NIA said and added that Singh used his travel agency and money transfer business to transfer the proceeds of drugs.

Based on the disclosures of the associates of the accused, the NIA had, on October 22, 2023, conducted searches at Singh's residential and official premises, leading to the recovery of Rs 1.34 crore cash as proceeds of narcotics.

It was found that Singh, at the behest of Dubai-based absconding accused Shahid Ahmed alias Qazi Abdul Wadood, had transferred huge amounts generated as proceeds of drugs into his (Shahid Ahmed's) bank accounts and also to the latter's India-based associate Razi Haider Zaidi and some others.

On November 8, 2023, a day after the Competent Authority issued the freeze order, the NIA froze Singh's seized cash amount as 'illegally acquired property'.

The NIA took over the case on the directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and its investigation has so far shown that the drug consignment in question was sent to India by Afghanistan based co-accused Nazir Ahmed Qani, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif, on the directions of Shahid Ahmed.

The same was supposed to be delivered to accused Razi Haider Zaidi in India for distribution in various parts of the country for monetary gains.

The NIA had on December 16 last year filed a charge sheet against four accused, Shahid Ahmed alias Qazi Abdul Wadood, Nazir Ahmed Qani, Razi Haider Zaidi and Vipin Mittal, in the case.

While Mittal and Zaidi, both residents of Delhi, were arrested in August 2022, Shahid and Nazir, who are based out of India, have been declared absconding in the case.

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