NRI couple held with 3.7 kg heroin from Toronto-bound flight

Express News Service Posted: Oct 06, 2008 at 2303 hrs
Amritsar, October 05 An NRI couple, Raminder Singh Nagra (60) and his wife Harjinder Kaur Nagra (56), were today nabbed with 3.7 kg of heroin from Air India’s Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight at Rajasansi International Airport here.

The flight was about to take off when Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths arrived and stopped the flight from taking off. The DRI team, headed by Superintendent Ramesh Kumar, asked the couple to deplane with their luggage. The flight took off as per schedule.

The culprits hail from Patti Sarain village under Nakodar police station of Jalandhar district. They said their son had packed their luggage and they were not aware about the narcotics.

The DRI sources said that couple had visited Canada several times in the past and their one son is settled in Toronto. “They were visiting him and the narcotics were concealed in the luggage bags,” said the DRI officials. Airport Director Arun Talwar said the doors of the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200, had been closed and it was preparing to take off when the pilot was told by the air traffic control (ATC) to return as directed by the DRI.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.