J&K police recovers heroin worth 50 crore along LoC

The absconded persons have been identified and efforts are being taken to arrest them, the police said

Jammu and Kashmir police busted a Pakistan-sponsored narco-terror module and recovered eight kilograms of heroin worth 50 crores from north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district on Sunday, officials said.

“On specific information, police busted a Pakistan-sponsored narco-terror module and arrested one terrorist associate identified as Mujasir Ahmad Lone. Incriminating material narcotic substance heroin eight kilograms worth Rs 50 crore in market were recovered from his possession,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.

The other absconded involved persons have been identified and efforts are being taken to arrest them, he said and added the module was in close connection with the Pakistan-based militant handlers and were involved in drug trade and assisting financially to active ultras in the Valley.

“The recoveries also exposed the inter-connection between drug dealers and terrorists. The module was working for terrorists to strengthen their activities in the valley and were misleading and motivating the local youth to join militant ranks,” the spokesperson added.

Kupwara is a frontier district along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Earlier on April 14, security forces recovered 10 kilograms of narcotics with an approximate value of Rs 50 crore in the international market along the LoC in the same district.

A similar consignment of deadly heroin, whose estimated market value, as per the police, is somewhere between Rs 50-60 crores, was seized on April 8 along the LoC in the same district.

As per the data available with J&K Police, in 2020 alone, 36.08 kilograms of pure heroin and 49.7 kilograms of brown sugar were recovered from different parts of the Valley. These recoveries, police say, have clearly shown that the cross-border narco-terror threat has become a major area of concern in Kashmir.

“In the wake of serious crackdown by the law enforcement agencies against the Hawala operators, Pakistan-based agencies use LoC route to send narcotics to fund the terrorism and unrest in the Valley. Since early 2019 when the cross LoC trade was shut down, narco-trade has become the exclusive route to finance terrorism and unrest in Kashmir,” a senior police officer told DH.

He said narco terrorism in Kashmir seems to have a plausible reason for its growth since Pakistan backed terror operatives in the valley have a readymade network of over ground workers (OGWs) in border areas who have been acting as couriers of arms/ammunition, fake currency etc in the recent past.