Punjab drug smuggler hurls currency notes to distract cops, rams police vehicles during 2-hour chase, still gets caught

VARANASI: In a dramatic chase of almost two hours by a joint team of the SOG, Robertsganj and Chopan police, a drug smuggler from Punjab, who threw bundles of currency notes from his car to divert the cops chasing him, was arrested after suffering a bullet injury to his leg, while his accomplice managed to escape in Sonbhadra district around 4.30 am on Monday. Providing details of the operation, Sonbhadra SP Abhishek Verma said that, after receiving inputs regarding the movement of drug smugglers, a joint team of cops from the Chopan and Robertsganj police stations and the SOG was formed around 2.30 am. The team cordoned off the Viranjua area under the Rampur Barkonia police station limits and succeeded in locating the smugglers' car. However, on seeing the police, the smugglers started throwing currency notes (in denominations of Rs 100) in bulk to ensure that the policemen chasing them got involved in collecting the money instead. However, when the SOG cops reached very close to the smugglers' vehicle, they rammed the police vehicle multiple times, damaging it. Verma said that, seeing the cops in trouble due to the damaged vehicle in the Salkhan area, a local resident, Pradeep Kumar Modanwal, immediately provided his personal car to the SOG team, after which they resumed chasing the smugglers. The smugglers also rammed Modanwal's car in an attempt to escape, but by then cops from the Chopan and Robertsganj police stations had also reached the spot and surrounded the smugglers' vehicle. The smugglers opened fire on the police team after jumping out of their vehicle, Verma said, adding that in retaliatory action, one of the smugglers, identified as Prince (27) of Ludhiana in Punjab, suffered a bullet injury to his leg and was caught, while his accomplices managed to flee, taking advantage of the darkness and hilly terrain. Police launched a combing operation to search for them. After recovering 3 kilograms of opium, 225 kilograms of doda (raw opium), cash worth Rs 50,000, a luxury SUV, one country-made pistol and cartridges, policemen rushed him to a hospital. Verma said that the total value of the seized articles was estimated at Rs 58.75 lakh. During initial interrogation, Prince revealed that his gang had purchased the narcotics from Daltonganj in Jharkhand to transport them to Ludhiana for peddling. He confessed that he and his gang members had used this route to transport drug consignments two or three times in recent months. Verma also gave a cash reward of Rs 10,000 to Modanwal for providing timely assistance to the policemen, while the SOG team was given a cash reward of Rs 20,000. Officials were in contact with police in other districts of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and other states to ascertain whether Prince and his gang members had any criminal history.