Drug module ran between Pak, Kashmir village & Punjab: Police
Arjun Sharma
Jammu, October 12
Eight drug peddlers — four each from Kashmir and Punjab — have so far been arrested in a case where 30 kg cocaine was recovered from a vehicle in Ramban on September 30.
The drugs were smuggled from Pakistan into Kashmir’s Amrohi village, located along the LoC in Kupwara district, and handed over in Srinagar to two Punjab-based peddlers — Sarabjeet Singh of Jalandhar and Honey Basra of Phagwara in Kapurthala district — who were arrested in Ramban, the police said.
In came to light during investigation that the module was active from Kupwara to Punjab. The kingpin of the module, Manjit Singh, was arrested from Ludhiana on Wednesday along with Rs 4.94 crore.
Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh in Jammu said eight persons had been arrested in the case.
The drugs were smuggled from Kupwara and handed over to the duo in Srinagar to be taken to Punjab. “This is a case where forward and backward linkages were established within days and eight persons were arrested. The drugs were brought in from Amrohi, which has become notorious for drug smuggling from Pakistan,” the DGP said. There have been 12 cases in recent past where drugs were brought from Amrohi by different narco modules.
The DGP said 38 number plates were also seized in Ludhiana during raids by a joint team of the J&K and Punjab Police. Sources in the police said on the basis of intelligence inputs, a truck was impounded and driver, who was responsible for delivering the consignment of 30 kg narcotics to the two peddlers in lieu of receiving Rs 45 lakhs cash at Parimpora in Srinagar, was arrested.
Meanwhile, the DGP said J&K had become a transit route for peddlers to carry narcotics into Punjab. “Terror organisations and other agencies in Pakistan use narco-terror money for funding terrorism,” he said.
As per official figures, in the past five years, 39 cases of narco-terror have been registered in J&K and nearly 80 peddlers arrested. Four quintal drugs only meant for narco-terror has been seized during this period. More than 100 weapons, including pistols, guns and five IEDs, were also seized.
