Ludhiana: Equipment worth ₹37 lakh seized from gym run by ‘member’ of drug syndicate
NCB officials claim that the gym at Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar was being run by drug money; the gym belongs to Gurmail Singh alias Garry, a key member of the drug syndicate. He was arrested in January for drug peddling
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday conducted a raid at a city gym allegedly run by a member of the drug syndicate run by drug lord Akshay Chhabra and seized equipment worth ₹37 lakh.
NCB officials claim that the gym at Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar was being run by drug money. The gym belongs to Gurmail Singh alias Garry, a key member of the drug syndicate. He was arrested in January for drug peddling.
It is the second such raid conducted by the NCB in Ludhiana in the past four days. The NCB on February 4 conducted a raid at house of another accused Surinder Kalra.
During the February 4 raid, the NCB had seized goods worth ₹36 lakh from the house of Surinder Kalra in Urban Estate, Dugri, an accused wanted by the NCB in the international drug syndicate run by Akshay Chhabra. While Kalra is still on the run, his son Mani Kalra was arrested. The father-son duo is also facing charges of operating a Hawala racket.
The NCB had busted this drug syndicate in November 2020 with the arrest of Sandeep Singh alias Deepu with 20.326 kg heroin at Ludhiana. Till date, the NCB has recovered a total of 39.93 Kgs of heroin, 557 gm opium, 23.645 kgs of suspected caffeine powder, 4 bottles of HCL, 31 live bullets and one magazine.
Apart from this, two heroin processing hideouts of this group have also been busted. A total of 20 persons have also been arrested so far. The NCB has seized/frozen movable and immovable properties of this syndicate worth ₹52 crore so far.
The NCB had found that Chhabra used to smuggle raw material from other countries. Afghan citizens, who are chemists, used to make drugs out of it at two clandestine laboratories located in Manakwal and Baba Deep Singh Nagar in Ludhiana city.
Chhabra’s acquired wealth in just two years. His father owned a tea stall near the grain market at Gill Road and he used to help his father. Later, he started working at a chemist shop. Meanwhile, he indulged in drug peddling. In two years, he had bought palatial houses and other properties, worth crores of rupees in the city.