Raj Mahal palace, Faridkot (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The Faridkot heroin haul was caught at a special checkpoint set up for the forthcoming Baba Farid Agman Purab.
A CIA team stopped a Honda City on the night between Saturday and Sunday and found 47.3 kg of heroin.
Three pistols, three magazines and 15 cartridges were found in the search.
Four occupants were arrested.
An FIR has been registered at Sadiq police station.
A team from the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) in Faridkot intercepted a Honda City car on the night between Saturday and Sunday during a special checkpoint.
The checkpoint was set up ahead of the forthcoming Baba Farid Agman Purab.
The four occupants of the car were apprehended, and the heroin and weapons were found during the search.
All four accused are residents of villages in Ferozepur district.
According to police, the gang received consignments of heroin and weapons dropped by drones from across the border in the border areas of Fazilka and Ferozepur.
The gang then supplied the consignments further within Punjab, police said.
An FIR has been registered at Sadiq police station in Faridkot.
Investigators are working to establish the forward and backward linkages of the network.
Punjab, which shares a long border with Pakistan, has seen repeated drone-dropped drug and weapon consignments in border districts.
Police recoveries of this kind are typically followed by questioning of the accused to trace the suppliers across the border and the buyers within the state.
The accused are yet to be tried, and the allegations against them remain to be proved in court.
The recovery included both narcotics and firearms, which police say shows the gang handled more than one kind of illegal consignment.
Baba Farid Agman Purab is a major annual religious event in Faridkot, and police step up checking in the district ahead of it.
Ferozepur and Fazilka, the districts named in the case, lie on the border with Pakistan.
Raj Mahal palace, Faridkot (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, public domain
