4 of narco-terror module caught; 8 kg drug seized

Srinagar, May 13

In a major success against an inter-state narco-terror smuggling syndicate originating from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the police, along with the Army, have arrested four smugglers involved in running the module. Acting on a tip-off that a Punjab-based drug smuggler had arrived in Kashmir at a pre-decided location to take a consignment of narcotics, a joint search operation by the Kupwara police along with a local unit of the Army was launched in Trehgam area of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

During the operation, four persons, identified as Yousuf Bokra, Showkat Ahmad Khatana and Maroof Ahmad Mir of Kupwara and Laba Masih of Awaan-Ramdas of Ajnala in Amritsar district of Punjab, were arrested when they were in the process of exchanging smuggled narcotics and cash among themselves, Kupwara SSP Yougal Manhas said.

He said a preliminary probe established that the narcotic consignment had been sent by two PoK-based terrorist handlers of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), namely Manzoor Ahmad Mir and Asad Mir of Jumagund village in Kupwara, who crossed over to PoK in early 1990s to join terrorist ranks.

Both Manzoor and Asad, over a period of time, have become terrorist handlers of the LeT, mainly acting as launching commanders besides pushing narcotics and weapons to sustain terrorist activities in the UT of J&K. “So far, eight packets of narcotics (heroin-like substance) weighing about 8 kg along with Rs 5 lakh have been seized from the arrested persons,” he said. A case under relevant sections of the NDPS Act and the UAPA has been registered at the Trehgam police station. More arrests and recoveries can’t be ruled out, Manhas added.