NIA files charge sheet against 10 accused in Hizbul narco-terror case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Tuesday filed a charge sheet against ten accused in connection with its probe into the Hizbul Mujahideen narco-terror case.

The premier probe agency filed a 14000-page charge sheet against the accused in NIA Special Court at Mohali, Punjab. While seven among the accused have already been arrested two are absconding while the other accused Hizbul chief Riyaz Naikoo was killed in an encounter with security forces in May this year.

One of the accused Hilal Ahmad from south Kashmir's Pulwama district, a truck driver was arrested on 26 April in Amritsar.

Ahmad was claimed to have been arrested with Rs 29 lakh cash, by Punjab Police and the case was later taken over by the NIA which established links between him and Ranjit Singh, a notorious narco-militant, who was arrested from Sirsa area of Haryana in May this year.

The NIA says Ranjit Singh was a close aide of Hizbul chief Naikoo. Singh was involved in the Hizbul terror-financing module run by Ahmad.

“Investigation also unearthed the conspiracy hatched by Pakistan-based Hizbul commanders and their associates and terrorist gangs in Punjab to support and augment the terror infrastructure of Hizbul in India by raising money through drug smuggling/drug pedalling,” a spokesperson of the NIA said in a statement.

He said during the investigation, it emerged that the accused had received at least six consignments of heroin through Attari Indo-Pakistan border in the garb of importing rock salt granules from Pakistan.

“Of these, money proceeds of five consignments were partly sent back to Pakistan through hawala operators while a substantial portion was channelized to Hizbul terrorists in Kashmir through a network of OGWs and other associates,” the NIA investigation reveals.

In July 2019, the sixth consignment of around 532 kgs of heroin was seized at Attari border and a separate case was registered, which was investigated and charge-sheeted by the NIA.

During investigations, the NIA carried out searches at 15 locations belonging to suspects and accused in Punjab, Haryana and J&K. “So far, Rs 98.5 lakh, eight vehicles and three kgs of heroin have been seized from the accused and investments worth many crores have been identified,” the NIA spokesperson said.

He said during searches, incriminating documents related to benami properties and digital gadgets including mobile phones, pen drives and laptops were seized and forensically examined. “Many incriminating chats between accused persons have been recovered from the seized digital devices,” he added.