Jaipur: Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Barmer Police have busted a cross-border smuggling unit, uncovering a technology-driven network that used GPS coordinates, encrypted calls and ‘dead drop’ methods to transport drugs, money and possibly weapons across the Indo-Pak border, police said.
Additional Director General of Police Dinesh MN said the breakthrough came after the arrest of Salman Khan and Shankar Ram. During interrogation, Khan revealed that for the past six months, he had been in direct contact with a dealer in Pakistan, Musaad, through a local contact, Rahim Khan.
The handler allegedly lured him with money and operated the network remotely by sharing precise locations via WhatsApp calls and Google Maps. The coordinates usually point to isolated areas near the international border fence, where drug packages were buried underground. The accused extracts the shipments and transports them according to instructions.
On April 4, Khan recovered five packages buried about 250 meters from the international border, hidden in a yellow plastic bag under a tree.
“The payment system combined digital transfers and cash drops. The accused received the money in batches… while the larger payments were buried in secret locations and collected using GPS coordinates,” Deputy Director General Dinesh MN said.
The network was divided into individual agents. Chats, call logs and location data are deleted after each operation to avoid detection. He said he suspected the dealer was active in the border villages of Barmer for the past few years.
Investigations expanded after the accused revealed that the same routes were used to smuggle explosives and illegal weapons.
Following the inputs, ATS, Anti-Gang Task Force, Barmer Police and intelligence agencies launched coordinated raids and arrested several suspects for questioning.
The investigation is being led by senior officers, including ATS SP Gyan Chand Yadav and Barmer SP Chunar Ram Jat.
