Drug peddlers of Punjab arrested from J&K's border district of Rajouri; narcotics worth Rs 150 crore recovered [details]

On the second consecutive day, the Jammu and Kashmir Police busted a narco-terror module and recovered narcotics worth Rs 150 crore from the possession of two "most wanted" drug peddlers of Punjab.

These drug peddlers of Punjab were arrested from the border district of Rajouri and were carrying a consignment of over 22 kilograms of heroin in a car bearing the registration number of Kashmir Valley.

"The arrests were made in the Sunderbani area of Rajouri district and investigation into forward and backward linkages of the case have been set into motion," police said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday a joint team of the Army and Police recovered heroin worth Rs 100 crore from the possession of three infiltrators near the Line of Control in Poonch.

According to Senior Superintendent of Police Rajouri, Amritpal Singh on a specific intelligence input received by police that two suspects are in transit from Rajouri towards Jammu in a vehicle, and acting swiftly over it, police teams were put on alert across the district.

The police said existing nakas were strengthened to intercept them while some mobile MCVPs were also established.

"A vehicle bearing registration number JK01AB 5470 was intercepted at Jammu Rajouri Poonch highway at police naka near ITI Sunderbani," the police said.

Two Punjab-based persons were travelling in the vehicle which was put to frisking during which a large quantity of heroin-like substance was recovered which is approximately 22 Kilograms.

This huge consignment has been recovered from the possession of these two persons who have been identified as Onkar Singh son of Karam Singh resident of village Talmandi Barth, district Gurdaspur Punjab, and Shamsher Singh son of Nirmal Singh resident of Village Barthmal district Gurdaspur Punjab.

Intensifying the campaign to snap the supply line of narcotics in the Union Territory, the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of Jammu and Kashmir arrested two interstate drug peddlers of Punjab from Rajouri.

The accused have been identified as Onkar Singh and Shamsher Singh, both residents of Punjab's Gurdaspur district, the police said.

Cops investigating their links with terrorists.

With these arrests, cops have been investigating their link with terrorists because they used to deposit money in the accounts of drug lords of Jammu and Kashmir.

As reported earlier, some top terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfits, based across the border in Pakistan, are generating funds by selling narcotics drugs to finance terror outfits active in the J&K.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its chargesheet, against the seven arrested terrorists in the Handwara narco-terrorism case in 2022, had exposed the nefarious designs of terror groups and drug mafia of different states. This narco-terrorism case was initially registered in the Handwara police station but later handed over to the NIA.

The deep-rooted conspiracy for procuring and selling narcotics drugs and generating funds in J&K and other parts of India was unearthed during the questioning of seven arrested accused in the Handwara narco-terrorism case.

Earlier the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of Jammu and Kashmir had arrested an interstate drug peddler from Punjab's Kathgarh area after conducting a series of raids in different areas of Punjab for three successive days. Raids were conducted at the Balchaur, Kathgarh, and Nawashahar areas of Punjab.

The arrested person was identified as Bachittar Singh from village Jandi Kathgarh and was "most wanted" by the Police Station ANTF Jammu under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Singh was the main receiver of Narcotics and Psychotropic drugs, smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir to the Punjab area.