Chandigarh: Punjab police on Monday claimed to have arrested a drug smuggler linked to Pakistan and USA based drug syndicates and recovered 15 kg heroin from his possession.

Stating that the arrested accused has been identified as Harshpreet Singh, a resident of Amritsar, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, said that apart from recovering heroin haul, police teams have also impounded the white coloured Activa scooter used by the accused for drug smuggling.

The development came a day after Tarn Taran police dismantled a drug trafficking cartel with the arrest of two drug smugglers and recovered 6 kg heroin from their possession.

DGP Yadav said that preliminary investigation has revealed that the drug consignment is linked to a smuggling network operated by USA-based smuggler Gurnam Kallowal, who is in link with Pakistan-based drug smuggler identified as Pahalwan. The latter was using drones to drop the drug consignment from across the border, he added.

He said that probe has also revealed that the accused retrieved narcotic consignments near the border area to further deliver it to local drug peddlers and was sending payments of drug proceeds through hawala channels on the instructions of his USA-based handler.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Tarn Taran, Abhimanyu Rana said that following reliable inputs about the smuggling activities of the accused Harshpreet, police teams had launched an intelligence based operation and arrested the accused from the area of Rakh Sarai Amanat Khan, when he was going to deliver the drug consignment to someone on his Activa scooter.