Chandigarh,  In a crucial breakthrough, Punjab Police have arrested three high-profile drug smugglers, who were wanted in a 72.5-kg heroin haul from Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav said here on Thursday.

The contraband, which was kept concealed in the door of the container containing white marble tiles, was jointly recovered by the teams of Punjab Police and ATS Mumbai in July. The container was imported by a Delhi-based importer.

Those arrested have been identified as Gurwinder Singh, alias Mehak (27), Gursewak Singh, alias Sewak (25), and Manjit Singh, alias Soni (34). The trio, arrested from Gurdaspur, were actively involved in a high-level trans-border and inter-state drug smuggling.

DGP Yadav said following inputs, Gurdaspur Police launched a special operation on Wednesday evening and arrested the accused after intercepting an SUV Mahindra Thar at the Amritsar-Jammu highway in the Dhariwal area of Gurdaspur.

The police have also recovered a revolver along with six cartridges of 9mm and live cartridges of .32 bore during the search of the vehicle, he added.

Earlier, the Mumbai ATS had managed to arrest accused Harsimran Sethi from Delhi, who ordered the consignment and his aide, Mohinder Singh Rathore, who was working as a clearing agent.

The DGP said during the investigation, the Mumbai ATS had nominated these three arrested persons, who were recipients of the container and went to Delhi to clear the consignment.

SSP Gurdaspur Deepak Hilori said accused Gurwinder Singh and Manjit Singh were also wanted by Amritsar Rural Police in an attempt to murder case in which they fired upon the police party of Amritsar Rural district in October 2020.

He said that further investigations are going on to unravel this network of drug smuggling in Punjab and other states.