200 packets of drugs seized from goods truck from PoK

Authorities today recovered nearly 200 packets of suspected contraband substance from an orange- ladden truck coming from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

The security officials during routine checking of goods imported from PoK at Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre in Uri stumbled upon few packets suspected to be Brown Sugar in a box of oranges in one of the vehicles, a police official said.

"During detailed scrutiny of other boxes, we found four to five packets of about 10 grams each in every orange box," the official said on condition of anonymity.

He said all the 22 vehicles which came from PoK today have been seized and will be thoroughly checked. "We are still carrying out the checking of the vehicles," he added.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Zone) Abdul Ghani Mir said, "Some packets containing suspected contraband were found in some vehicles.

"We have rushed a team from Forensic Sciences Laboratory to check the nature of the substance."

Mir said it would be premature to comment whether the substance was actually drugs or not. "Let us wait for the tests," he added.
In January last year, the authorities had seized drugs worth nearly Rs 100 crore from a truck coming from PoK, which led to brief suspension of cross-Line of Control trade after police arrested the Pakistani driver of the vehicle.

In August 2013, police recovered cocaine worth Rs 10 crore from a truck, plying on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, at Sheeri in Uri sector.