Narco-terror module: Another drone supplier held from Jammu

Amritsar The Amritsar-rural police on Monday arrested a Jammu-based man, Sarvodhya Rakesh Bihari, in connection with the narco-terror module it busted on January 11. This is the seventh arrest in the case and comes the day after the rural police arrested one Rishab Kumar, a student, from Ghaziabad. Police claim Rishab had sold a drone to one of the key accused of the module, army naik Rahul Chauhan, through an online e-commerce company.

Sarvodhya had been working as supplier of drones, and was in contact with a Delhi-based company that had been supplying the drones without following guidelines of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), police say.

The module had been busted with the seizure of two highly sophisticated Chinese-made drones, and the arrest of an army naik and two smugglers Dharminder Singh and Balkar Singh involved in smuggling of weapons and narcotics across the border. Balkar was arrested from Amritsar jail. He was allegedly operating from jail, as police also recovered a mobile phone.

The seizure, resulting from targeted and intelligence-led search operations, also included drone batteries, custom-made drone containers, two walkie-talkie sets and ₹6.2 lakh believed to be proceeds of drugs, and the magazine of an INSAS Rifle.

A senior police official said, “During questioning, Kumar told us that he had purchased a drone from Sarvodhya; we apprehended him from Jammu.” He, however, refused to disclose the company’s name, saying it would hamper investigation. “We are close to breaking the chain of the sale and purchase business of drones. More arrests are expected in a day or two,” he added.

Preliminary investigations had confirmed that the armyman, Chauhan, was directly involved in operating drone sorties across the border for picking up heroin as well as weapons from Pakistan, along with his associates in India and Pakistan. He and his accomplices were in direct contact with Pakistani smugglers on encrypted Over-The-Top (OTT) media platforms, police had said, adding that the plan was to send one of the walkie-talkie sets across the border to Pakistan to aid in two-way communication.

On January 14, police had brought two convicts Lakhwinder Singh and Swaran Singh from Amritsar jail after their names had cropped up during questioning. Two key accused, Ajaypal Singh and Paramjit Singh of Mode village, are absconding.

Another senior police official said they were zeroing in more suspects, from Punjab and other states, who are involved in the supply of drones without following DGCA guidelines. SSP Vikramjit Singh Duggal refused to comment till the investigation was complete.