October 03, 2026

Narco kingpin Navpreet Singh deported from Türkiye, sent to 10-day police custody in Delhi

By The Night Desk

Headline card: The Night Desk

Narco kingpin Navpreet Singh deported from Türkiye, sent to 10-day police custody in Delhi

India's Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced Saturday that the government has secured the deportation of alleged international narco-trafficking kingpin Navpreet Singh from Türkiye and brought him back to India to face drug-trafficking and other charges.

Shah, writing on X, called the capture a "historic milestone" — and the details read like a spy dossier:

• Singh allegedly obtained Turkish citizenship under the fake identity of "Navab Virk"
• He kept running the network from Türkiye, smuggling heroin and methamphetamine from Afghanistan to India
• Indian agencies "tracked him down, ripping apart veil after veil to unmask his true identity," Shah said

10 days' custody

Hours after landing in India, Singh was produced before Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, which remanded him to 10 days of police custody on Saturday.

In court, police said Singh inflicted self-injury upon himself immediately after reaching the airport — a Medico-Legal Certificate (MLC) was conducted. The court also noted he was declared a proclaimed offender in February 2022.

Police told the court they need him in custody to unravel the wider network, including trips to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab. A chargesheet has already been filed involving three other accused, and investigators say they've uncovered communications between Singh and other suspects identified as Ramandeep, Gurjeet, and Gurjot.

His defence, Advocate Asgar Khan, opposed the remand, arguing Singh's statement had already been recorded and further investigation could proceed on that basis.

The network

Singh's name had surfaced in a major 2021 Delhi narcotics case in which investigators recorded the recovery of around 355.5 kg of heroin. Agencies describe him as a key handler operating the network between Afghanistan, India, and Türkiye.

The deportation is the second such return from Türkiye this year: in April, suspected drug trafficker Mohammad Salim Dola — a close aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim — was brought back to India. Shah said the government is "committed to destroying every narco-cartel before December 2029."

The investigation is ongoing. No conviction has been secured against Singh in the current case.

Source: IANS — read the original report