SRINAGAR: The Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) on Monday froze five bank accounts amounting to over Rs 54.27 lakh of a drug cartel in Jammu and Kashmir.
An ANTF statement said that the cartel had been supplying Hashish from Kashmir Valley to other parts of the country, apart from supplying and distributing psychotropic drugs in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Three main distributors of the drug cartel have already been arrested including Salman Khan and Amit Saxena of Delhi, who were supplying psychotropic drugs from the Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir, besides Jahangir Ahmed, the main supplier of drugs from J&K to other parts of the country,” said the statement.
These freezing orders are the first of its kind in the UT where bank accounts have been frozen by the competent authority – SAFEMA (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act For Forfeiture of Property Act 1976) of Delhi, the ANTF statement added. The process involves proving such accounts to be proceeds of narcotics and the case is heard by SAFEMA.
The freezing order from SAFEMA came after investigating officer Parvez Sajjad proved beyond a reasonable doubt that all such money was proceeds of narcotics, the statement said, adding that the account holders too were provided an opportunity to present their case.
“ANTF is investigating all aspects of the money transactions including Hawala which cannot be ruled out at this stage,” it said.
It is also probing many such other accounts and properties, both moveable and immoveable of notorious drug dealers, the statement said, adding that proper confiscations and forfeiture shall be followed in near future. These drug deals also include illicit crop cultivators, cross-border smugglers, peddlers etc., said the statement.
