NIA files supplementary charge sheet against 7 in Handwara narco-terror case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 28

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said it has filed a supplementary charge sheet against seven accused in a special Jammu court under various sections of the NDPS Act, 1985, the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act – UAPA.

A senior NIA official said those who have been named in the charge sheet include Showkat Salam Parray of Bandipora, Asif Gul of Baramulla, Altaf Ahmed Shah of Ganderbal, Romesh Kumar of Samba, Mudasir Ahmed Dar of Shopian, Amin Allai of Anantnag and Abdul Rashid of Kupwara.

The official said the NIA in its charge sheet alleged that all the seven persons were part of a deep-rooted conspiracy for procuring and selling narcotics drugs and generating funds in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and other parts of India in close association with operatives of banned terrorist outfits, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM),  based across the border in Pakistan.

Investigation in the case revealed that the funds so generated were pumped for furtherance of terrorist activity in the UT of J&K through a network of over ground workers (OGWs),” the official said, adding that the NIA had earlier filed charge sheet against six accused persons on December 5, 2020 in connection with this case.

The case was initially registered in PS Handwara on June 11, 2020 wherein during checking of vehicles at Kairo Bridge, accused Abdul Momin Peer was intercepted by the J&K Police Naka party. During search in the vehicle cash amounting to Rs 20,01,000 and 2 kg of heroin were recovered and seized, the official said, adding that further interrogation of Abdul Momin Peer led to recovery of 15 kgs of Heroin and cash amounting to Rs 1.15 crore.

The NIA took over the investigation in the case by re-registering an FIR June 26, 2020.