BSF seizes 31 kg heroin at Punjab border

GURDASPUR - In a major recovery along the border with Pakistan, the Border Security Force (BSF) Saturday recovered 31 kg of heroin near here in Punjab but two smugglers managed to escape, BSF officials said here.

The heroin stock, said to be worth over Rs.31 crore in the international market, was found by BSF troopers during a search of the area near Channa post in Gurdaspur, 275 km from Chandigarh.

The consignment was hidden close to the bed of Ravi river that flows along the border between India and Pakistan. The BSF launched a search in the area following a tip-off that a drug consignment was being delivered.

“No arrests have been made. The consignment seemed to have been abandoned by people from across the border,” BSF Deputy Inspector General Mohammed Akil told reporters at the BSF’s Khasa base near the border.

Akil said that two people, believed to be smugglers who had come to collect the consignment delivered by their Pakistani counterparts, managed to escape.

The heroin consignment was wrapped in polythene bags and covered with a ‘kurta-pajama’. The polythene bags had markings of Lahore city in Pakistan.

BSF officials said that smugglers from Pakistan delivered the consignment, taking advantage of the rise in the river’s water level and flow along the wild (Sarkanda) bush growth in the area.

The 553-km barbed wire fenced border between both countries is used by smugglers. Most of the heroin and other drugs come from Afghanistan through Pakistan.

Punjab has emerged as a major transit and destination point for the drugs trade and drug addition is prevalent among youth and people in rural areas of the state.