Ferozepur, Nov. 27 -- Punjab Police's Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF), Ferozepur Range, has arrested a key financier and hawala operator linked to a cross-border drug syndicate after recovering Rs.20.55 lakh in drug money, a senior police official said on Wednesday. ANTF AIG, Ferozepur Range, Gurinderbir Singh Sidhu said that the recovery was a part of the ongoing probe into the recent recovery of 50kg of heroin, one of the year's biggest seizures along the border. "The breakthrough came after forensic experts analysed a mobile phone recovered from arrested accused Sandeep Singh, alias Seepa. The device revealed sustained communication with a Pakistani drug smuggler, exposing a deeper financial trail behind the consignment," the AIG said. The technical cell of ANTF headquarters in Mohali and Ferozepur Range meticulously traced the communication links, eventually identifying the hawala conduit as Shriyansh, a resident of Ludhiana who originally belongs to Bikaner in Rajasthan. Investigators found that he had been using encrypted messaging routes shared by the Pakistani handler to move and launder drug money. Acting on the intelligence input, an ANTF team swiftly moved in and arrested Shriyansh, recovering Rs.20.55 lakh in cash, suspected proceeds of the heroin consignment. The official described the arrest as "a critical hit to the financial spine of the cross-border drug cartel", stressing that without choking the money trail, syndicates continue to thrive despite periodic seizures. NDPS Act invoked to target financial chain The accused has been booked under Sections 27-A and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act - provisions invoked in cases related to financing, harbouring, and conspiracy in drug trafficking. "The use of Section 27-A, in particular, signals Punjab Police's strategy to dismantle not just traffickers but the financial ecosystem enabling them," Sidhu said. Efforts are underway to map the forward and backward linkages of the narco-hawala network, including potential associates in India and counterparts across the border. The police said more arrests are likely as the investigation widens into a syndicate that has been using encrypted digital communication and sophisticated financial channels to operate along the India-Pakistan border....