Chandigarh, June 10 (PTI) A narco-hawala cartel, operated by Arshdeep Singh, currently incarcerated at Goindwal Jail, was dismantled with the arrest of six of its operatives, the Punjab Police said on Tuesday.

The police also recovered 4.526 kg of heroin and Rs 8.7 lakh cash from their possession, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.

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The arrested were identified as Karandeep Singh alias Karan (25), from Algon Khurd in Tarn Taran, Jaspreet Singh (20), from Salodi in Ludhiana, Arshdeep Singh alias Ars (22), from Mehndipur in Tarn Taran, Gurmeet Singh alias Geetu (24), from Sukhera Bodla in Fazilka, Rajinderpal Singh alias Nikka (24), from Kolowal in Amritsar and Malkeet Singh (28), from Hawelian in Tarn Taran.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Arshdeep, in connivance with his associates Jaspreet and Karan, orchestrated the drug trade and hawala transactions.

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Karan, along with Gurmeet and Rajinderpal, retrieved cross-border consignments and distributed them across various districts of Punjab, the DGP said, adding that the proceeds from the narcotics trade were laundered via hawala channels by Jaspreet, which were routed to Dubai, UAE and subsequently to Pakistan.

The mobile phone used by Arshdeep within the jail was recovered, providing crucial evidence of their cross-border operations, the officer informed.

Further investigations are ongoing to establish both backward and forward linkages in this case.

Arshdeep, incarcerated in a drug case, maintained contact with cross-border smugglers, Amritsar Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said.

He also shared that Malkeet, who was arrested separately, is a notorious smuggler who spent a year in Dubai, where he established links with Pakistani smugglers.

Given his village's proximity to the international border, Malkeet facilitated the smuggling of consignments directly to his residence upon his return to India two months ago, Bhullar added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)