Jammu couple arrested with 10 kg heroin in walnut boxes

The Special Task Force (STF) of the Punjab police on Tuesday arrested a Jammu-based couple from Ludhiana in Punjab and seized 10 kg of high-priced heroin from their custody.

The accused drug smugglers had concealed heroin in walnut boxes. The couple were on the move in a car when they were stopped by the STF team and nabbed. The accused had put up a police sticker on the car to avoid checking en-route.

The 48-year old accused, Mohammad Arbi, and wife Jamila Begum (36), are residents of Bathindi colony in Jammu. According to Punjab STF chief Mohammad Mustafa, the couple have confessed to supplying two consignments in the past in Amritsar.

According to sources, a Kashmir-based drug smuggler and his accomplice in Pakistan, who run the drug smuggling operation in Punjab and other parts, have been identified. The accused received the drug consignment via Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, said sources.

With strict vigil by the BSF on the 543-km Punjab-Pakistan international border, recent drug hauls indicate a developing trend of pushing in drugs in Punjab from Jammu and Kashmir.

Official sources say they are working in close coordination with other security establishments to plug loopholes from this corridor of drug trafficking. Punjab accounts for very high incidents of drug trafficking, especially the high priced ones.