Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday that the Modi government has achieved a historic milestone by securing the deportation of hardened narco-trafficking kingpin Navpreet Singh from Türkiye. He said obtaining Turkish citizenship under the fake identity of Navab Virk, he had continued to smuggle heroin and methamphetamine to India from Afghanistan.
“Our agencies tracked him down, ripping apart veil after veil to unmask his true identity, and secured his deportation. Today he has been brought back to India and put behind bars in connection with cases involving drug trafficking and other crimes he is accused of. Congratulations to all the agencies for this success. Modi government is committed to destroying every narco-cartel before December 2029,” he said.
Now, Navpreet Singh has been brought back to the country and lodged in custody in connection with cases involving drug trafficking and other alleged crimes.
Know all about Navpreet Singh?
Known as Nav, Navpreet Singh emerged in an earlier investigation into a major international narcotics syndicate operating between India, Afghanistan and Türkiye. Probe agencies alleged that he was the Turkey-based kingpin of the network, while his cousin Prabhdeep Singh was its operational link in India.
The probe against him started in 2021 with the arrest of Rizwan Kashmiri in south Delhi. His interrogation helped the probe agencies to uncover a wider network involving several states and Afghan nationals. The investigation later led to major heroin seizures in Faridabad. Probe ahgencies recovered 166 kg of heroin from one vehicle and another 115 kg from a second vehicle, according to officials.
How probe started from Azerbaijan to Turkey
The crackdown by the probe agencies on the syndicate involved the extradition of Prabhdeep Singh, who was described by investigators as Navpreet Singh’s cousin and an important operational link in India.
The Indian probe agencies in May secured Prabhdeep’s extradition from Azerbaijan after he was traced to a flat in Baku. He was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and was brought back to India by a special team involving the CBI and Delhi Police, with support from the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs.
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