Police teams sent to Kashmir, Punjab in cocaine seizure case

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, October 2

Teams of the J&K Police on Monday visited different areas of Punjab and Kashmir in the narco-terror drug case in which 30 kg cocaine was seized in Ramban district on Saturday evening.

The cocaine was reportedly smuggled from Kashmir to Punjab through two drug peddlers, who were arrested in Banihal of Ramban. The J&K Police reached their villages in Jalandhar and Phagwara in Punjab to probe the case.

The police detained a resident a Jalandhar village during raids conducted along with the Punjab Police. He is a driver and is believed to be associated with the two accused arrested in Ramban.

Mohammad Afzal Wani, SHO, Banihal, told The Tribune that different teams of the police had gone to various locations to know about the drug racket which was being run by sending drugs into J&K. “Many teams have been formed as it is a high-profile case. More details will be shared in coming days,” he said.

It has been learnt that police teams have also been sent to north Kashmir areas from where drugs was sent from Pakistan through the Line of Control (LoC). The police are also trying to know if the drugs were sent through drone from Pakistan or through some porous point along the LoC.

Drug peddlers who were arrested on Saturday evening were identified as Sarabjeet Singh of Jalandhar and Honey Basra of Phagwara. The police believe they are small-time peddlers and were given the task to bring 30 kg narcotics in an Innova car by the drug cartel in Punjab. The seized drugs are believed to be of Afghanistan origin.

Along the LoC in entire J&K, the security forces are working together to thwart any attempts by the narco-terror modules to smuggle drugs into India. However, there are many mountainous areas with tough topography which gives terror groups an opportunity to send drugs into J&K. Many such attempts were foiled in districts along the LoC, including Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla, Bandipore and Kupwara, in the recent past.

Sources in the Army intelligence said the sale of drugs in India funds terrorism being run by ISI. “It is a dangerous circle where money spent by drug addicts to purchase drugs in different Indian cities is used to target citizens. The only reason why Pakistan is now using J&K as a transit point and not Punjab is the difficult terrain along LoC areas which gives cover to the smugglers,” the sources said.

Incidents involving Punjab peddlers

June 1: 22 kg heroin recovered from two Punjab-based peddlers in Rajouri

March 3: 7 kg heroin, Rs 2 crore meant to be sent to Punjab seized in Poonch

October 23, 2022: 21.5 kg heroin seized in Udhampur, Punjab man arrested

July 12, 2022: 12 kg heroin seized in Jammu, three Amritsar peddlers arrested