Anti-narcotics task force arrests drug inspector in smuggling case

Chandigarh: Punjab police’s anti-narcotics task force (ANTF) has arrested drug inspector Shishan Mittal for allegedly facilitating drug smuggling operations pertaining to illegal pharmaceuticals, medical stores and laundering drug money in benami bank accounts in the name of his relatives.
Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said on Friday that the drug inspector was arrested about a month after the police froze 24 bank accounts with deposits amounting to Rs 7.09 crore linked to Mittal, besides seizing huge stashes of cash and foreign currency during a series of coordinated raids conducted at different locations in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.The police have also seized two bank lockers.

DGP Yadav added that using a combination of advanced technical surveillance and human intelligence, ANTF police teams, headed by special DGP Kuldeep Singh, apprehended Mittal from Aerocity in Mohali. The preliminary investigation suggested that the accused drug inspector had been regularly in touch with drug smugglers lodged inside jails and facilitated their drug network outside, he added.
The accused drug inspector was travelling to foreign countries frequently without taking permission from the government or availing ex-India leave, the DGP added. Mittal’s anticipatory bail application was recently rejected by the sessions court, underscoring the severity of the charges against him.
Special DGP Kuldeep Singh said that the ANTF recovered Rs 1.49 crore in cash, 260 grams of gold and 515 Dirhams. The assets that the drug inspector acquired through the proceeds of illegal activities have been identified and include flats valued at Rs 2 crore in Zirakpur, land worth Rs 40 lakh in Dabwali, Haryana, he added. The police have registered an FIR under Sections 29 (conspire or abet the commission of offences related to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances) and 59 (a public servant who wilfully supports or abets drug smugglers or neglects duty concerning the enforcement of drug laws, can be subjected to severe penalties, including imprisonment) of the NDPS Act and Section 111 (organised crime) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in this case.