The State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) of the counter-intelligence wing of Punjab Police busted an international gang of smugglers on Monday,and arrested one Kala Masih,a resident of Narowal district in Pakistan,who had been living in the city for the last one and a half month. Officials did not rule out the possibility that Kala could be a spy. The police also arrested his two Indian accomplices and recovered nine pistols,live cartridges and two kilograms of heroin from them. The authorities said Kala was a notorious smuggler and kingpin of a racket of drugs smugglers operating from India and Pakistan. The two Indians are Jaspal Singh alias Jassa,a resident of border village Ghumrah,and Baljit Singh alias Gora,a resident of Ghonewala village near Ramdas in Amritsar. Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Manminder Singh said: Acting on secret information,a special police party was constituted and a trap laid near Mai Bhago Government Polytechnic College on Majitha Road. All three reached there with the assignments from diverse directions and were arrested. The three were booked under Sections 21,25,29,61,85 of the NDPS Act and Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act. Kala was also slapped with Sections 3/34/20 of the Indian Passport Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. The AIG said: Further investigations regarding Kala running a spying network are on. He is found to be a close aide of notorious Pakistani smuggler Abad Ali alias Badi who had been frequently crossing over to the Indian territory from the riverine area of Gurdaspur sector,with consignments of fake currency,heroin,arms and ammunition. Police sources said Kala crossed over to India about one and a half month ago from the same area and had been operating from here at the behest of Abad Ali ever since. Interrogations revealed that he was working with Jaspal Singh,who has already served a 10-year sentence in Delhis Tihar Jail after being caught with 70 kg heroin in the early 1990s. The police said Jaspal engaged one Baljit Singh,an ex-serviceman,to arrange a suitable accommodation and all necessary infrastructure Kala would need to carry out smuggling activities. The police said detailed interrogations of the accused were on and more arrests were likely.
