12 kgs of Heroin recovered in first week of 2023 in Kashmir

The flow of Heroin into Kashmir from across the border continues unabated with police recovering 12 kgs of deadly drug in just the first five days of the New Year.

According to the police, besides 12 kgs of Heroin, seven pistols were recovered from border Karnah tehsil of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district from January 1 till date.

“Since the beginning of the new year, during three different joint operations launched by the police and the Army, seven pistols and 12-KG of Heroin have been recovered. Four people involved in the trade were also arrested and search for others is going on,” said Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Kupwara, Yougal Manhas.

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Some of the villages in Karnah tehsil are close to the Line of Control (LOC) and some areas even fall beyond the fence erected by the Indian army to stop infiltration. “Somehow they (drug dealers) establish contact across the border and are able to smuggle drugs into Kashmir. But our intelligence grid is much stronger in busting the same,” the SSP added.

Last week J&K police chief Dilbagh Singh said that Pakistani agencies were trying to smuggle narcotic substances into the union territory in large quantities. “They (Pak agencies) are using smugglers, touts and even drones to push the narcotic substances into this side,” he said.

In 2022, a total of 212 kgs Heroin, 383 kgs Cannabis, 12 kgs Brown Sugar, 215 kgs Ganja and 10,746 kgs of Poppy Straw were recovered in J&K. In 2022, a total of 1,693 cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered which was more than 130 compared to 2021.

In the last two years, J&K police and other security agencies have coined the term “narco-terrorism” as they claim militancy in Kashmir was now being financed by the narcotic trade.

Narco-terrorism implies the nexus between drug syndicates and terrorists that facilitate and fund terrorist activities. In Kashmir, according to police, the nexus is vital for Pakistan to keep the place troubled. It has been pushing in drugs through the land route - across the LoC and the International Border in Jammu and Punjab - and through drones, police added.