Police recover huge cache of drugs, arms in Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir Police Sunday said it recovered a big haul of drugs and arms from three persons arrested in north Kashmir’s frontier district.

The trio was arrested during a checking by a team of Army and police and two vehicles were also seized from them.

“10 Kg's Of brownsugar Ak47 rifle, 02 pistols, 20 Grenades & other ammunition recovered by joint team of Army & @KashmirPolice during checking from #Sadhna top #Kupwara in North Kashmir. 03 persons arrested, 02 vehicles seized.Some more arrests are expected,” J&K police tweeted.

The J&K Police had on June 11 busted a huge narcotics-terror module and arrested three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) associates in Handwara town of Kupwara district. The police had recovered 21 kg heroin and Rs 1.33 crore Indian currency, total worth over Rs 200 crore, from the possession of those arrested. The case was handed over to the NIA on June 23 for further investigations.

In the last 18 months, more than 80% of drugs seized in Jammu and Kashmir were reportedly smuggled in from Pakistan while 20% was being smuggled from neighboring Punjab.

A police officer said militant groups were using infiltration routes along the Line of Control and International Border in J&K with the backing of Pakistan's ISI and Army to finance militancy in Kashmir.

“Drug menace in J&K has increased manifold compared to the previous years, which was evident from the seizure of a huge quantity of narcotic substances and arrest of drug peddlers in the recent months,” he said.