Raja Kandola arrested by Jalandhar Police. (file photo)
Punjab’s international drug smuggler Raja Kandola died at the age of 56. He suffered a heart attack in Mumbai on Sunday (January 25). Raja Kandola was born in Nawanshahr. Then it remained surrounded in controversies for about 26 years from 2000 to 2026.
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Kandola had gone to England like an ordinary young man. There he became a drug dealer. When the English agencies followed him, he fled to Zimbabwe and was arrested there. After which he met a chemical expert from Serbia in the jail there.
After which he started making the synthetic drug ice. By supplying this, he gradually became the Ice King. However, before his death he was acquitted in most of the cases. The last case was of money laundering in Jalandhar. In which he was punished.
How an ordinary Punjabi named Ranjit Singh became a notorious drug smuggler, what formula was given to him by the chemical expert in the Zimbabwean jail, how he got acquitted in the cases registered against him, Read the full report…
Read the full story of Ranjit Singh becoming King Kandola
- Born in Banga, went to UK at the age of 20: Ranjit Singh was born in 1970 in Happowal village of Banga town of Nawanshahr district. Ranjit Singh alias Raja Kandola took his initial education from the village school. In 1990, at the age of 20, Ranjit Singh was sent by his father to UK for job. While working here and in the desire to get rich quickly, he started the work of getting people to cross the border illegally. Due to human trafficking, Raja Kandola lived in America and then Zimbabwe for a long time. Apart from this, he also became active in drug smuggling.
- Meets drug kingpin in Zimbabwe jail: The story of Raja Kandola becoming a drug kingpin began in 2002 in a prison in Zimbabwe. There he met John Milan, a resident of Serbia. He showed him the path to the world of drugs. John Millan is considered to be the smuggling master of Raja Kandola. It was Milan who told Kandola about the formula for making ice (methamphetamine) and the benefits of this business. He taught Kandola how to prepare synthetic drugs from chemicals (ephedrine).
- Built a house in Banga, accused of making ice secretly: Kandola returned to Punjab around 2004 after his release from prison in Zimbabwe. According to ED, he built a luxurious house in Banga and it was here that he was accused of secretly making ice. Kandola used to call himself a travel agent among the people. There are allegations against Kandola that due to his contact with John Milan, he started sending the synthetic drugs manufactured here abroad.
- Name surfaced in Rs 200 crore racket: It has been discussed that Kandola started spreading methamphetamine in the markets of Punjab and Delhi only after returning from Zimbabwe, due to which he came to be called Ice King. It was discussed that in February 2012, it was Milan who had opened his ice drug manufacturing unit. John Millen was an expert in working behind the scenes. In 2012, when Punjab Police busted Kandola’s Rs 200 crore racket, Milan’s name came up for the first time.
The then ED officer giving information about Raja Kandola case in Jalandhar court.
Acquitted due to mistake of Punjab Police, ED tightens screws
- 200 crore drug case, then acquitted: For the first time in 2012, Punjab Police busted Kandola’s racket worth Rs 200 crore. Kandola was arrested in this case. Kandola was also linked with heroin smuggler Jagdish Bhola. After this, Raja Kandola was acquitted by the Jalandhar court in the drug smuggling case in December 2023.
- Punjab Police could not prove direct connection of drugs in the case: Punjab Police could not prove against Kandola that the seized drugs were directly linked to Kandola. As the case dragged on, many witnesses turned hostile. The defense counsel argued that the police had not properly followed legal procedures during the raid and seizure of the goods.
- ED filed a case of money laundering, wife along with her were punished: Even after being acquitted in the drug case, Kandola could not get relief. After this, the team led by the then ED Jalandhar officer Niranjan Singh named Kandola in the money laundering case. In this case, on August 14, 2024, the special PMLA court of Jalandhar found Raja Kandola guilty of money laundering and sentenced him to 9 years of rigorous imprisonment. In this case, Kandola’s wife Rajwant Kaur was also sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.
What brought Raja Kandola into the business of synthetic drugs? Kandola brought John Milan into the smuggling business. It was he who explained to Kandola that synthetic drugs (Ice) had more advantages than heroin and it was difficult to get hold of it. When caught, it is even more difficult to prove it as an addiction.
The bigger thing was that ice was chosen in India because there was no testing lab at that time and the chemicals used in making it were easily available in the market. It was John Millen who taught Kandola how to make high-quality ice by processing two chemicals. In the early 2000s, South Africa and Zimbabwe became transit points for international drug smugglers.
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Death of Punjab’s international smuggler Iceman Raja Kandola: Heart attack in Mumbai; Came into limelight due to ₹200 crore drug case
High-profile drug smuggler Raja Kandola, resident of Banga, Punjab, died. Raja Kandola, living in Mumbai, suffered a heart attack, after which he was taken to the hospital, but the doctors declared him dead. (Read full news)
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