Latest news with #YudhNashyeanVirudh
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Indian Express
In war against drug menace, Punjab Police crackdown traces major hawala conduits in Turkey, UAE
Investigations by Punjab Police into the hawala network, which funds and fuels the drugs smuggling trade in the state, has revealed that much of the illegal cash is routed through Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia, Canada, and West Asia. The Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF), which has been spearheading the 'Yudh Nashyean Virudh' (war on drugs) campaign in the state has been investigating the cross border linkages of the hawala transactions and has found that the maximum transactions are routed through UAE and West Asia and that money exchangers based in India are the prime movers of this illicit cash. Speaking to The Indian Express, Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said that the crackdown on hawala network is one of the most important aspects of the war on drugs. 'We have arrested 60 people till now in connection with hawala networks linked to drugs and have recovered more than Rs 12 crore. The investigations by ANTF have found that people from different states and professions are involved in it. Linkages have been found in Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Karnataka apart from Punjab,' said Yadav. The DGP said that it is essential to hit at the financial aspect of the drugs trade so as to make it unprofitable for anyone to venture into drugs smuggling. 'The seizure and forfeiture of property being done by the Punjab Police under the relevant provisions of the NDPS Act are also a step towards this aim. All these so called gains from the drugs trade have to be traced and connected to the big fish,' said the DGP. A senior official from ANTF said that the most commonly used conduits are currency exchanges but they have also found the involvement of some mobile repair store owners in this illegal activity. 'The international links reach Dubai, Malaysia, Canada, Pakistan and Turkey. There are digital and coded transactions over phones and bank account layering is done to obscure proceeds from heroin sales,' the official said. Recovery of Rs 4.22 crore hawala money along with 423 grams heroin, 372g gold, four cars, and motorcycles. Four inter-state hawala operators were arrested. In this case backward linkages in recovery of heroine in Amritsar led to unearthing of hawala network being run by forex agents Ashok Kumar and his brothers in Phagwara, Kapurthala. Drug was being smuggled from Pakistan by one Shahbaz, a resident of Pakistan's Narowal district, through Gurbhej Singh alias Bheja who was lodged in Amritsar Jail. The hawala money was being routed through through one gym operator Harmanjit alias Harry to the forex operator Ashok Kumar who would further launder it to Dubai. In this case there was a recovery of 7kg opium along with Rs.23 lakh of drug money. Total seven people were arrested. Here, one Iqbal was the mastermind who was collecting the hawala money on the instructions of foreign based criminal Joban Kaler. Here the money was being deposited to the forex operator Ashok Kumar of Phagwara, Kapurthala. An international narco-hawala link to a Turkey-based smuggler Navpreet Bhullar was unearthed. Six people were arrested with 1kg heroine and Rs 84.02 lakh hawala money while Rs 22 lakh has been frozen in bank accounts. Turkey based Navpreet Bhullar is the mastermind of this case with Gurdeep Saab being his on ground worker in Amritsar. In this case an interstate drug network was busted with the recovery of 60kg heroin from Barmer in Rajasthan. Eleven people were arrested out of which four are from Jammu and Kashmir, two from Rajasthan, one from Haryana and four from Punjab. During the interrogation, it came to fore that Manish Daga from Jodhpur and Ashok Punjabi from Jodhpur were handling the hawala operations within India. They were acting in close coordination with Dharmendra (resident of Ajmer), who is currently residing in Dubai. Dharmendra, in turn, is directly in touch with Tanveer Shah, a Pakistan-based smuggler believed to be the mastermind behind the cross-border drug operations. Five people have been arrested in this case. In the course of investigations significant revelations regarding hawala operations have emerged during the interrogation of the main accused Jagjit Singh, resident of Tilak Nagar, Delhi, from whom Rs .6.9 Lakh has been recovered. Originally from Afghanistan, Jagjit returned to India in 2014 and had since been operating as a key hawala conduit for cross-border drug proceeds. He is working on the instructions of one Pakistan based smuggler namely Pathan.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
AAP govt looking to revise land pooling policy: Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh
An Aam Aadmi Party MLA Saturday said that party government in Punjab is preparing to revise its land pooling policy 'to provide relief to farmers and residents'. Kulwant Singh, the Mohali MLA, said, 'The new land pooling policy has caused anxiety among many farmers about the acquisition of their land. The government respects their sentiments and will ensure that no farmer or landowner suffers losses due to the policy'. Addressing locals at an even to mark the 'Yudh Nashyean Virudh' campaign at Phase 11, the MLA said, 'The current policy will be amended and aligned with the previous version to address growing discontent and confusion among landowners. The consent process for development projects, as outlined in the earlier version of the policy, will be reinstated. This means inputs from local panchayats, farmer associations and village communities will once again be prioritised in planning and execution.' The MLA urged residents of rural areas to trust the government and not to fall prey to rumours. 'Our goal is to ensure balanced regional development, while protecting the rights of farmers,' he stated. Originally designed to facilitate planned development in Punjab, the land pooling policy recently drew widespread criticism, with farmers alleging the policy 'ignored their interests and failed to provide fair compensation'. The state government has identified over 40,000 acres in 27 towns and cities, with 30,000 acres identified in Ludhiana, Mohali and Amritsar alone. The land will be acquired after the owners offer their land voluntarily. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had earlier told the media that the land pooling would be 100 per cent voluntary. 'It will help people get houses in legal colonies and help check the mushrooming illegal colonies. My house in Sangrur is in an illegal colony. You check your houses also,' Mann said. Faced with protests over the recently introduced land pooling policy of the Aam Aadmi Party government, former Delhi minister and state party co-in-charge Satyendar Jain had asked AAP MLAs to go among the public and educate landowners about the policy to quell criticism. Jain huddled with MLAs from the Assembly segments where land has been identified for pooling. Meanwhile, BJP leader Tarun Chugh Saturday lashed out at the AAP government over its land pooling policy, calling it a 'ponzi scheme to loot farmers' land'. 'This is not pooling, it is pure looting. The BJP will fight this tooth and nail. The Mann government is only a puppet, the real strings are pulled from Delhi by Arvind Kejriwal,' Chugh alleged. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had on Friday called the scheme farmer-friendly, and said it is based on mutual consent. He had asserted that not a single inch of land will be forcibly taken over from any farmer.
Indian Express
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
War against drugs enters phase-2: work on to develop 3,083 modern playgrounds
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday announced that modern playgrounds will be developed in every village in the state, with work on 3,083 such grounds to start soon, to wean youth away from drugs and channelise their energy in a positive direction. 'A total of 4,000 grounds will be developed in the first phase of which work on 3,083 is going to start soon,' Mann said. There are nearly 13,000 villages in Punjab, and modern grounds will be built in every village, he added. He said athletes who have represented India in international competitions will be appointed as coaches to train budding sportspersons at these grounds so that a sporting culture is built among the youth. Addressing media at his official residence, the Chief Minister said the government keeps receiving hundreds of proposals from Panchayats for building sports stadiums in villages, Mann said, adding that there is no dearth of land availability for developing grounds in villages. 'Even NRIs are willing to donate land. If the need be, the government will also buy land to build playgrounds,' he said adding that it is the next step in the ongoing 'Yudh Nashyean Virudh' (war against drugs) campaign. Taking a swipe at previous governments, he alleged they the successive Congress and Akali-BJP regimes paid no attention to the development of sports infrastructure or youth employment. 'Youth were inclined towards sports and education. But during the previous governments' time, they were neither given grounds nor books. As they say, an idle mind is a devil's workshop, many youth fell into bad habits. Gradually, Punjab slipped into the quagmire of drugs and youngsters did not get the atmosphere they deserved,' he said. 'Being a Punjabi and a sports lover, our aim is to pull the state's youth out of the drug menace. For that, we need to give them alternatives so they do not slip back into the habit,' Mann said, adding that the best alternative is sports and added that with proper support and opportunities, Punjab's youth can excel in several sports. Despite lack of facilities in the past, players like Shubman Gill, Harbhajan Singh and Arshdeep Singh emerged from Punjab, he said, adding that many players in the national hockey team also come from the state. Shubman is the Indian Cricket Team's Test captain while Harmanpreet Singh is national hockey team's captain, Mann said. We have abundant talent, he said. Punjab's youth can excel in hockey, cricket, kabaddi, athletics — what they need is the right atmosphere and support, the chief minister said. Astroturf, synthetic tracks will be laid, he said, adding that there is no dearth for money. Sports nurseries will be set up for a cluster of villages. Mann said Punjab is the first state in the country to offer financial assistance to athletes for their preparation ahead of international competitions — a step that has already shown promising results. 'Punjab government is taking sports as priority,' he said, adding different areas in state are known for dominance in a particular sport and accordingly such sport will be promoted in that area.
