On 03.02.2023, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted search operations in an NDPS case at ten separate locations in villages Sheron, Naushera Pannuan, and Bugha in district Tarn Taran, Punjab. Skattar Singh @Laddi, Gajjan Singh, Makhan Singh, other members of their family, and some colleagues’ commercial and residential locations were searched in accordance with the requirements of the PMLA, 2002.
Several damning evidences were collected and confiscated during the course of the search pertaining to multiple immovable properties worth crores of rupees in the names of the aforementioned individuals, members of their families, and acquaintances. A few packets of what seemed to be opium and its derivative products, including heroin, were also found from the home of Skattar Singh @Laddi and his family in hamlet Sheron. As a result, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was requested to verify and analyse the suspected items. According to NCB authorities, the drug retrieved was heroin weighing around 2.2 kg, which they examined and seized in the presence of ED officers.
In addition, some packets of white powdery material were confiscated from the shop of Skattar Singh @Laddi, Owner of M/s Baba Sidana Trading Company in Nausheran Pannuan, and NCB was requested to verify and analyse them. According to NCB officers, the substance seemed to be suspected narcotics contraband weighing 13.980 kgs, which they seized in the presence of ED personnel.
During the search, arms and ammunition totalling two rifles and three pistols, as well as some cartridges, were discovered. They included a rifle, two pistols, and cartridges discovered at the home of Skattar Singh @Laddi, as well as a rifle, a pistol, and some cartridges discovered at the home of Makhan Singh, Skattar Singh @Laddi’s brother. The aforementioned weapons and ammunition were reported to local police authorities. While original licences for some of the weapons collected from residential locations were not available, they were turned over to local police authorities.
The Jalandhar Zonal Office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) initiated an investigation under the PMLA, 2002 against the aforementioned individuals based on multiple FIRs filed against Hardev Singh @Rambo S/o Makhan Singh and others under various sections of the NDPS Act and the Arms Act, which are Scheduled Offenses under the PMLA, 2002, in order to determine the scope and extent of money laundering activities engaged in by them and to trace the proceeds of crime. Hardev Singh @Rambo is now imprisoned in Amritsar Central Prison for the discovery of 4 kg of heroin by Punjab Police in 2018. This matter is now being investigated further.
