7-kg heroin worth Rs 35 crore seized in J&K’s Rajouri, 1 held

Jammu, September 14

A suspected drug peddler was arrested on Monday after seven kilograms of heroin worth Rs 35 crore was recovered from his possession in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, police said.

The recovery was made from a mini-truck, which was intercepted by a police party at a checkpoint near Rajouri town, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Chandan Kohli.

Huge consignment of drugs was found hidden in the vehicle. The driver, Tariq Ahmad Ghanie, a resident of Bachro village of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, has been arrested and booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the SSP said.

“The alert of the police foiled the major narcotics smuggling bid,” Kohli said, terming the recovery a “major success”.

The officer said the sustained questioning of the suspect was going on and “we are working to unearth all the links of this peddler and the source of this consignment”.

“All possible aspects, including cross-border smuggling are being probed in the case and more arrests are likely,” he added.

This was the second big catch for Rajouri police in five days. Earlier, a boy was nabbed with 670 gm of heroin from Panjal Gala Namblan village of the district. PTI