In a first, Punjab cops detain ‘smuggler’ under PIT-NDPS Act
The proposals regarding Avtar Singh, alias Tari and many others were pending before the state home department for the past over six months
The Punjab Police have finally been able to implement the first proposal to detain a smuggler using the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act by detaining a “top smuggler”, identified as Avtar Singh, alias Tari, of the border village of Shahur Kalan in Gurdaspur district for two years.
The proposals regarding Tari and many others were pending before the state home department for the past over six months. On the other hand, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had implemented three such proposals related to detention of Punjab-based smugglers by taking permission from the Union home ministry.
The orders regarding Tari’s detention were implemented by the Punjab Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) and the Gurdaspur police. Tari will remain in detention for two years in the Bathinda central jail. “This is the first case of preventive detention in which orders have been issued by the competent authority under Section 3 (1) and 10 of the PIT-NDPS Act. The Section 3 of the PIT-NDPS Act empowers the government to take smugglers into preventive custody to prevent them from engaging in illicit traffic of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances,” said DGP Gaurav Yadav.
The Punjab government had last year reconstituted a three-member advisory committee, headed by justice Shabihul Hasnain (retd) with advocates Suveer Sheokand and Divanshu Jain as its members. In each case, where the advisory board reports that there is no sufficient cause for detention, the government is required to release the person concerned. Detained persons can approach the board for challenging their detention.
As per information, Tari, while residing in his border village, has been smuggling heroin from the international border across the state and the country, triggering addiction while causing great damage to the state through illegal trafficking of drugs.
Yadav said accused Tari has been involved in smuggling of 231-kg heroin and has been actively involved in drug business with Pakistan-based smugglers. The accused has been convicted and sentenced in two cases registered against him under NDPS Act, he added.
After he came out of jail, according to police, he was again involved in drug smuggling from across the border. The ANTF has prepared 70 such proposals of detaining routine offenders under the PIT-NDPS Act.
According to the police, more preventive detentions will be made in the coming days. The NCB had on August 17 detained two smugglers — Akshay Chhabra and Jaspal Singh, alias Goldy — lodged in Bathinda jail under the PIT-NDPS Act and sent them to Dibrugarh jail.
On August 13, the NCB had invoked the PIT-NDPS Act for the first time in Punjab with notorious drug smuggler Balwinder Singh, alias Billa Sarpanch, alias Billa Havellian, was taken into preventive custody and sent to Dibrugarh.
