Two J&K youths arrested with 300 kg of poppy husk

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 20

The Counter-Intelligence, Pathankot, today seized around 300 kg of poppy husk valued at Rs 19 lakh from two Jammu and Kashmir men.

They were intercepted at Mudhal village near Verka here. The arrested J&K residents were identified as Mir Mohammad Farooq, son of Ghulam Hassan Mir, a resident of Pulwama, and Shahid Ahmed Yatoo, son of Nazir Ahmad of Trichal in Pulwama. A case under Sections 15, 25, 29, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against them.

Randhir Singh Uppal, AIG, Counter-Intelligence, Pathankot, and Kamaljit Kumar, DSP, CI, at a press conference here today said the suspects were travelling in a truck. The alleged smugglers earlier used to travel through the Mukerian-Tanda-Bhogpur route. But today they took a new route from the Gurdaspur-Batala-Jalandhar route.

Though they had no previous record, investigations revealed that the contraband belonged to Bashir, a Kashmir resident. Uppal said the smuggling of poppy husk from Jammu and Kashmir had seen a rise in the recent past, as the supply of high-end drugs like heroin had declined due to a drive against drug abuse in the state