Chandigarh : International boxer Vijender Singh allegedly consumed heroin 15 times from December 2012 to February 2013 while his colleague Ram Singh took it five times, Punjab Police said Sunday as it announced seizure of huge quantities of lifestyle drugs used in parties.
Based on international prices for these drugs, police said the haul was valued at Rs.484 crore.
A police spokesman said Sunday that police in Fatehgarh Sahib district had recovered 10 kg of party drug ‘Ice’ (methamphetamine) and 230 kg of raw material (pseudophedrine) from which it is made.
About Vijender, he said: “In investigation, it has been established that boxers Ram Singh and Vijender Singh took heroin from (arrested Canada-based drug dealer) Anoop Singh Kahlon and Rocky for personal consumption between December 2012 and February 2013.
“As per investigation conducted so far, Vijender Singh consumed the drug about 12 times and Ram Singh about five times. However, they did not actively connive with the smugglers in their activities and nothing was recovered from them – as such both of them are not being arrested in the case at this stage,” the spokesman said.
Ram Singh has been dismissed from the police department since it was established that he frequented the smugglers and procured heroin from them.
About the seizure, the spokesman said: “Both the manufactured Ice and the raw material were being exported abroad to Britain, Canada and Holland by this group of narcotic smugglers through Kulwant Singh, a British national, who was earlier arrested in this case from Delhi on March 19.
“As per Kahlon and Kulwant Singh, the international retail price of Ice is about Rs.5 crore per kg and of raw material about Rs.1 crore per kg,” the spokesman said.
“The total wholesale price of these seizures in the international market is Rs.121 crore and the international retail price approximately Rs. 484 crore according to the figure given by Kahlon and Kulwant Singh,” he added.
The latest seizures were made from Panchkula (near Chandigarh), Patiala and Sangrur.
The Fatehgarh Sahib police had earlier this month (March 7), recovered over 28 kg heroin, worth Rs.130 crore in the international market, from Kahlon’s possession and had arrested him. The drug haul was made from Kahlon’s flat in Zirakpur, near Chandigarh, and his car.
Police also found a SUV, registered in the name of Vijender Singh’s wife Archana, parked outside Kahlon’s flat. Kahlon reportedly told the police that Vijender and fellow boxer Ram Singh were his “clients”.
The Punjab Police have already questioned Vijender, who is a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in the Haryana Police, in connection with the drugs racket. The boxer has, so far, refused to give his blood and hair samples to police.
“15 people including two Canadian and one British citizen have been arrested so far in this case, whereas more than 25 others of this network are presently absconding. Police parties have been dispatched to UP, Delhi and Mumbai apart from several places in Punjab for further investigation and to apprehend the absconders,” the spokesman said.
Among those booked in the drugs haul case include a serving sub-inspector of police, Sarabjit Singh.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (counter intelligence) Ananya Gautam, assisted by Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh and the state special operation cell Amritsar, have been deputed to probe the international facets of the smuggling network and appropriately liaise with the British, Canadian and Dutch police,” he added.
File Photo : AFP