In April 2022, ₹700 cr of heroin smuggled from Aghanistan was seized at the Attari post; Amritpal Singh was the conduit for drug money through his travel agency, money transfer business, the NIA alleged
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested a key accused in connection with the seizure of over 102 kg of Afghan-origin heroin at the Attari border in April 2022, after he was intercepted by immigration officials while trying to flee to Dubai.
The accused has been identified as Amritpal Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab. He is the third person arrested by the agency in the case. He allegedly handled cash and laundered the drug money via banking and “hawala” channels.
The case pertains to the seizure of heroin worth about ₹700 crore, which was being smuggled from Afghanistan via India and Pakistan, by Customs officials at the Attari post in Amritsar on April 24 and 26 last year. The drugs had been concealed in a consignment of licorice roots.
International drug nexus
“Amritpal 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,” the agency said on Saturday.
Mr. Singh’s alleged role in the international drug nexus came to light following the examination of some people linked to others accused in the case, and also due to several suspect transactions which he did through the bank accounts of the other accused.
The NIA then found that Mr. Singh was involved in a 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. Amritpal Singh used his travel agency and money transfer business to transfer the proceeds of drugs,” it said.
Cash seizures
Based on the purported disclosures of his associates, the NIA had searched his premises on October 22, leading to the seizure of over ₹1.34 crore in cash.
The agency alleged that Mr. Singh, at the behest of Dubai-based absconding accused Shahid Ahmed aka Qazi Abdul Wadood, had transferred huge amounts of drug money into the latter’s bank accounts and also to his India-based associate Razi Haider Zaidi, and some others. On November 8, a day after the competent authority issued an order, the NIA had frozen the cash seized from Mr. Singh as “illegally acquired property” under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Based on its findings, the agency has alleged that the drug consignment in question was sent to India by Afghanistan-based accused Nazir Ahmed Qani, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif, on the directions of Mr. 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,” said the NIA.
On December 16 last year, the agency had filed a chargesheet against four accused: Mr. Ahmed, Mr. Qani, Mr. Zaidi, and Vipin Mittal. While Mr. Zaidi and Mr. Mittal, both residents of Delhi, were arrested in August 2022, the other two are still absconding.
