Tarn Taran, October 15, 2026: Border Security Force (BSF) personnel intercepted a Punjab Police constable posted with the state’s anti-drone system and recovered approximately 15–16 kg of heroin from his personal vehicle near the India-Pakistan border in Tarn Taran district early on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Constable Karandeep Singh, a resident of Bhuse village, was handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for further investigation into alleged cross-border links.
According to reports citing senior BSF officials and local police, the interception occurred around 6 a.m. near Naushehera Dhalla (also referred to as Naushara Dalla) village in the Sarai Amanat Khan area. Karandeep Singh, who was on two days’ leave and off duty, was travelling in his personal car when BSF personnel at a checkpoint grew suspicious. A search of the vehicle yielded three packets containing the heroin consignment. Tarn Taran Senior Superintendent of Police Surendra Lamba confirmed the recovery of 15 kg of heroin, while some accounts place the quantity at around 16 kg. The constable has been suspended and faces a departmental inquiry.
Preliminary investigation indicates that Singh, posted with the anti-drone system under the jurisdiction of Khalra police station, allegedly collected a consignment dropped by a drone from across the Pakistan border and was transporting it for onward delivery. Agency sources have described him as a drug addict. He joined the Punjab Police in 2018. Investigators are questioning him regarding his alleged handlers and the wider supply network. The recovered contraband and the accused have been transferred to the NCB, which is probing the matter under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The incident has drawn attention because Singh was deployed with Punjab’s ‘Baaz Akh’ (Hawk Eye) anti-drone system, installed by the state government in August 2025 as a second line of defence behind the BSF. The system, comprising multiple units along the border belt from Pathankot to Fazilka, is designed to detect drones and their ground-control stations used for smuggling drugs and weapons. Punjab shares a 553-km international border with Pakistan, spanning districts including Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Fazilka, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. At the time of its launch, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had highlighted it as the first such state-level initiative.
In a related development the same day, Pathankot police, acting on intelligence, arrested two other suspects—Gurpanth of Vadala village (Amritsar Rural) and Harmanjeet Kaur of Dhianpur village (Gurdaspur)—and recovered approximately 7.8 kg of heroin. Packets in that seizure bore distinctive seal impressions and Pakistani markings. A case under Section 21 of the NDPS Act was registered at Sadar police station, Pathankot (FIR No. 155 dated October 12, 2026). Police are examining digital evidence, financial records and other material to map the supply chain.
The dual seizures underscore ongoing efforts by the BSF, NCB and Punjab Police to counter drone-based narcotics smuggling along the international border, even as the involvement of a personnel assigned to anti-drone duties raises questions about internal safeguards and possible insider facilitation. Further investigation by central and state agencies is underway to identify additional operatives and dismantle the network.
