Accused linked to 80% of narcotics supply in Jammu district

AK-47, Star pistol, 1.5 Kg heroin, Rs 11 lakh cash recovered

Correspondent

JAMMU, June 17: In a major crackdown on narco-terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested three alleged key members of a narcotics network from Amritsar in Punjab and recovered an AK-47 rifle, a pistol, live ammunition, heroin, cash and vehicles used in drug trafficking.

The accused have been identified as Surajdeep Singh alias Suraj of Jandiala, Harpreet Singh alias Raju and Jaspreet Singh.

Addressing media persons at DPL Jammu, SSP Jammu Joginder Singh said the trio was arrested during a coordinated operation conducted by Jammu and Kashmir Police in connection with several cases registered at Police Stations Miran Sahib, Bishnah, Nagrota and Gangyal.

He said the arrested individuals were supplying 80% of the narcotic substances to Jammu district and were backward links of Lau Gujjar and his network operating in J&K which had numerous FIRs pending against them.

He said arrests in his (Lau Gujjar's) backward link had led to arrest and questioning of Lateef, Bachu, Majeeda and Mushtaq, who had revealed Suraj and Raju to be his backward links.

The SSP Jammu further said that investigations revealed that the accused supplied drugs to nearly 20 forward links operating in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts.

He said the arrests were made following sustained investigations and disclosures made by other accused persons arrested earlier in various NDPS cases.

The police officer said that during searches conducted at the accused persons' premises by teams of the Special Operations Group, Police Station Miran Sahib, investigating officers from Bishnah and Miran Sahib, and Punjab Police, a large quantity of incriminating material was recovered.

The seized items include one AK-47 rifle with 40 live rounds, one Star pistol with 29 live cartridges, four 12-bore cartridges, about 1.5 kilograms of heroin, an electronic weighing machine, packing material, cash amounting to Rs 11 lakh, three mobile phones, and three vehicles, including a Mahindra Thar, Honda Amaze and Maruti Swift.

The SSP Jammu said the operation was carried out with the active cooperation of Punjab Police.

Meanwhile, further investigation is underway to identify other members of the network and dismantle the narco-terror infrastructure.