Toronto based Punjabi NRI headed drug cartel in India

CHANDIGARH: The UN report that Punjab has become major transit point for drugs is vindicated with the arrest of a Toronto based Punjabi NRI Gurdish Singh Toor alias Amarjeet Singh by Delhi police. Toor had established an international drug syndicate from his base in Ludhiana in Punjab.

CHANDIGARH: The UN report that Punjab has become major transit point for drugs is vindicated with the arrest of a Toronto based Punjabi NRI Gurdish Singh Toor alias Amarjeet Singh by Delhi police. Toor had established an international drug syndicate from his base in Ludhiana in Punjab.

'World Drug Report' released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)  released in June 2006 had said that Punjab had emerged as a major transit point for drugs coming in from Afghanistan to India, which has one of the highest numbers of opium users in the world.

UN report had said that  the availability and consumption of drugs have increased in Punjab in the recent years with cities like Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Patiala emerging as hotspots, it said.

The Punjab DGP S.S.Virk had then dismissed the UN report false and without any . The volume of drugs found in the possession of Toor and number of transactions he had made from Ludhiana is mind blowing and an slap on the face of Punjab police.

The Delhi police have uncovered the drug cartel and recovered one quintal ephedrine and three kilograms Hashish worth over 100 crores from him. “This is only tip of the iceberg”, said a senior police officer in Delhi.

Toor (29) who came to India on six months tourist VISA in August 2004 never returned to Canada. He had built huge property and amassed unaccounted Wealth in India during last two years. Delhi police is now trying to verify his antecedents and past criminal record. His parents and grand parents had migrated to Canada in early seventies.

Toor case is considered similar to terrorist Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi who lived under police protection for years even as he was shown dead in police records. Punjab DGP had denied the knowledge of any “killed” terrorist living in Punjab. He however later admitted that about 300 youth were given false identities to protect their lives.

The surprising factor is that Toor was operating from Ludhiana with impunity where he had set up three export firms. He had also obtained an export license from directorate of foreign trade, even though getting license is very difficult for genuine exporters.

Toor operated firms like Golden Shield Private Limited, Simran Rice and Blue Horse Trading Limited. These firms were dealing in export of rice and other commodities to Northern America.

Toor’s personal expenses are said to be Rs, 50,000 per day and he had fleet of luxury cars, police said.

Police had arrested three accomplices of Toor identified as Paramjit Singh, Amit Aggarwal and Kialash Chand  Jindal. Raids are being conducted  in other parts of the country.