50-kg heroin seized from apple truck in Jammu

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 8

In a major breakthrough, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Jammu, has recovered 50 kg of heroin, valued at Rs 250 crore in the international market, from a Delhi-bound truck laden with apple boxes.

This was the third big seizure of heroin this year in the Jammu region. During the last four months, three heroin consignments originating from Kashmir with a cumulative market value of Rs 800 crore have been seized.

Without divulging the details of the modus operandi adopted by drug smugglers, the NCB said the smuggling could be part of “narco-terrorism”.

The NCB has arrested the truck driver, a resident of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, for carrying the consignment which was concealed in apple boxes.

“Based on specific information, a team of the NCB intercepted an apple-laden truck coming from Sopore on the November 5 evening at Ban Toll Plaza on the Jammu-Udhampur highway. The truck was brought to Narwal Fruit Mandi. Upon search, 50 packets of heroin were found concealed in three wooden boxes,” Virender Yadav, NCB, Zonal Director, Jammu, told mediapersons here.

Yadav said the truck, which originated from Kashmir, was headed for New Delhi. “We found that the drugs were packed in pouches laid under layers of apple. There were at least 50 such packets weighing 50.120 kg. This is the third biggest seizure of heroin in the current year in India by any agency,” the NCB director said.

To a query, he said, “We can’t rule out that such big consignments are part of narco-terrorism and funding generated through it can be used for carrying out terror activities. This is part of the investigation.”

On being asked whether drugs were being smuggled from Pakistan, Yadav remained tight-lipped about the source point, saying that the investigation was on.

In the last four months, the NCB has seized 161 kg of heroin valuing Rs 800 crore from the Jammu region alone. The seized consignments, according to sources, originated from Afghanistan and reached J&K via Pakistan. On August 6, the NCB and J&K Police recovered 51 kg of heroin on the bypass under the jurisdiction of Trikuta Nagar police station in Jammu. The IGP, Jammu, had claimed that it was Afghanistan-origin high-quality heroin which was being transported to Punjab from Handwara district of Kashmir. On September 2, a team of the NCB had seized 22 kg of the 60-kg heroin seized from a car at Lakhanpur and arrested three persons while they were transporting the consignment to Punjab. The rest of the 38 kg was seized from a house in Handwara.