Jaipur, Oct 2: Rajasthan Police has arrested a former National Security Guard (NSG) commando, who had participated in the 26/11 anti-terror operation in Mumbai, for allegedly being the kingpin of a cannabis smuggling racket, a senior official said on Thursday.
Bajrang Singh was arrested late Wednesday night from Ratangarh in Churu, said Inspector General of Police Vikas Kumar.
He was allegedly involved in smuggling ‘gaanja’ from Telangana and Odisha into Rajasthan and was caught with 200 kg of the substance, he said.
The “drug kingpin” belonged to Rajasthan’s Sikar district and carried a bounty of Rs 25,000, Kumar said.
He added that the state’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) successfully carried out ‘Operation Gaanjaney’, resulting in Singh’s arrest.
According to officials, Bajrang left studies after Class 10 and joined the Border Security Force (BSF), where he served briefly before being discharged. Later, he served for seven years as NSG commando.
He was part of the network during the 2008 anti-terror operation in Mumbai serial blasts case, known as the 26/11 terror attack.
In 2021, IGP Kumar said, Singh’s political ambitions also became evident when he tried to push his wife into contesting local elections. However, the attempt failed. But it gave him exposure to local circles and strengthened his influence.
The police said Singh also established connections with criminal elements in Odisha and Rajasthan, and sought to leverage his village standing to further narcotics and terror-linked activities.
The ATS and ANTF teams had been monitoring his movements for nearly two months. Despite his attempts to evade arrest, using fake mobile IDs and hiding in remote villages, technical intelligence and ground-level informers helped trace him to Churu.
“This operation was a result of weeks of planning and intelligence sharing. The arrest of a hardened operative like Bajrang is a significant achievement in neutralising the terror-narcotics nexus in Rajasthan,” the IGP said.(PTI)
