SRINAGAR: Teams from the J&K Police made visits to various locations in Punjab and Kashmir on Monday in connection with the narco-terror drug case, wherein 30 kg of cocaine was confiscated in the Ramban district on Saturday evening, Tribune reported.
Reportedly, the cocaine had been illicitly transported from Kashmir to Punjab via two drug peddlers who were apprehended in Banihal, Ramban. The J&K Police extended their investigation to the hometowns of these individuals in Jalandhar and Phagwara, Punjab.
During joint raids with the Punjab Police, law enforcement officials detained a resident of a Jalandhar village, believed to have connections with the arrested suspects from Ramban.
Mohammad Afzal Wani, SHO of Banihal, while speaking to The Tribune stated, “Multiple police teams have been deployed to various locations to probe the drug network responsible for smuggling narcotics into J&K. Given the high-profile nature of this case, further details will be disclosed in the coming days.”
It has been revealed that police teams have also been dispatched to northern Kashmir areas, believed to be the origin of the drugs smuggled from Pakistan across the Line of Control (LoC). Authorities are exploring the possibility of drug transportation via drones from Pakistan or through porous points along the LoC.
The arrested drug peddlers from Saturday evening, Sarabjeet Singh of Jalandhar and Honey Basra of Phagwara, are suspected to be low-level operatives tasked with transporting 30 kg of narcotics in an Innova car by a Punjab-based drug cartel. The seized drugs are thought to originate from Afghanistan.
Along the entire LoC in J&K, security forces are collaborating to prevent narco-terror modules from smuggling drugs into India. However, challenging topographical conditions in many mountainous regions provide opportunities for terror groups to facilitate drug smuggling into J&K. Several such attempts have been thwarted in LoC bordering districts, including Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla, Bandipore, and Kupwara, in recent times.
Sources within Army intelligence have highlighted that the proceeds from drug sales in India contribute to the financing of terrorism orchestrated by the ISI. “It’s a perilous cycle where funds spent by drug addicts on purchasing drugs in various Indian cities are diverted towards targeting civilians. The reason Pakistan is currently using J&K as a transit point, rather than Punjab, is due to the challenging terrain along the LoC, which provides cover for smugglers,” the sources explained to The Tribune.
