JAMMU: The ties of the interstate narco-module arrested a few days ago have been tracked from north Kashmir’s Kupwara area to Ludhiana in Punjab, according to Director General of Police (DGP), Jammu and Kashmir, Dilbag Singh. Eight persons have been detained thus far, four from Kupwara and four from Punjab, according to him, and 30 kg of cocaine, Rs 5 crore in cash, 40 phoney licence plates for vehicles, passports, and a handgun made in Germany have all been found. DGP Singh announced during a news conference at District Police Lines (DPL) Jammu that Ramban police recently stopped the car and found 30 kg of a substance similar to cocaine inside.The DGP stated, “Though the final report of FSL is awaited, it seems that the recovered substance is cocaine,” adding that four people from the Kupwara region of northern Kashmir had been detained. “It was discovered over the course of the investigation that Kupwara district is linked to the inter-State narco-module. The preferred route for narco-smuggling through Kupwara is the Amrohi; the latest shipment was also smuggled through this route. The DGP stated that although there has been no proof of drugs being dropped by drones, there are reliable leads that indicate drugs have been physically carried. “We have registered 12 cases in the Amrohi area of Kupwara related to narco-terror,” the DGP added.He claimed that following the detention of four Kupwara suspects, J&K police and Punjab police detained four more suspects, among them the main narcotics handler. Investigations revealed that the major suspect’s father was a drug dealer as well. From the arrested individuals, we have retrieved Rs 5 crore in cash, 40 bogus licence plates, passports, and a revolver made in Germany, he said. When questioned about the number plates, the DGP stated that it appeared that they were used to fool the highway police when drugs were being moved from Kuwpara to Punjab. “The drivers of vehicles ferrying drugs would have been impersonating police officials given the police badges recovered and also the number plates of the vehicles would have been changed from one stop to another,” he stated. He claimed that evidence has shown that drugs are being brought into Kashmir from across the Line of Control to promote and feed terrorists. “Links of all major terror organisations have come to fore in the racket,” claimed the DGP. More arrests are probably going to be made as the investigations continue, he said. He claimed that drug consignments dropped by drones from the international border in the Jammu districts had been reported in some cases.“With the arrest of eight accused, a big inter-state narco smuggling module has been busted,” according to the DGP. The DGP responded to a question about the number of drug abusers in J&K by saying that although there is a legitimate study or census, a preliminary probe reveals there are 7 lakh drug users in J&K.
