A special court here has sentenced two men to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment each in a 490-gm heroin seizure case registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in March 2025.The court pronounced the verdict on November 7, convicting Sukhjeet Singh, the alleged carrier, and Sukha Singh, the supplier, under various provisions of the NDPS Act.The NCB authorities while sharing the information today said that Sukhjeet was convicted under Sections 21 (c), 8 and 25 of the Act while Sukha Singh was held guilty under Sections 29 and 21 (c).Both the accused were fined Rs 1 lakh on different counts. Failure to pay the fines will attract an additional year’s imprisonment on each count, NCB officials said.On March 8, 2025, a joint team of the NCB and the Border Security Force (BSF), acting on specific intelligence, intercepted Sukhjeet Singh near Peer Baba Shah Ji in Jasraur village, falling under the Bhindi Saidan police station area in Ajnala.During the operation, the accused took out a packet wrapped in yellow tape from a plastic bag tied beside the seat of his motorcycle. The packet contained 490 gm of heroin. The seizure was videographed and the contraband was subsequently confirmed as ‘diacetylmorphine’ by the Central Revenue Control Laboratory, New Delhi.During the investigation, the NCB traced the source of the consignment to Sukha Singh. Investigators found that he allegedly used a mobile connection registered in his brother’s name. Call detail records revealed that the two accused had exchanged around 20 calls in the three days preceding the seizure.The court held that the call records, coupled with other circumstantial evidence, established Sukha Singh’s involvement in the criminal conspiracy. It observed that the absence of a physical recovery from a conspirator did not, by itself, absolve him of liability under Section 29 of the NDPS Act.The defence had challenged the search proceedings, alleging non-compliance with Section 50 of the Act. The court rejected the argument, holding that the provision applies to a personal search and not to the recovery of contraband from a vehicle.During the probe, Sukhjeet had disclosed that he was to deliver the consignment at a price of Rs 2 lakh.