Five cops linked to Pakistan drug ring among 17 held in Valley

SRI NAGAR: Seventeen people, including five policemen, were arrested on Friday in Kashmir following a crackdown on a narcotics smuggling module originating from Pakistan. A police officer said the breakthrough came after they had zeroed in on some drug smugglers active in Kupwara town and its adjoining areas while working to identify the peddlers active in the region.

“Based on a tip-off, a poultry shop owner named Mohammad Waseem Najar was arrested with some quantity of narcotics from his house at Darzipura in Kupwara. He admitted to being a part of a big group of drug peddlers and disclosed his associates’ names,” the police official said.

The police then conducted raids at various places in Baramulla and Kupwara and arrested 16 more people, including four special police officers, a policeman, a political activist and a contractor. The busting of the drug module has once again exposed the involvement of Pakistan-based militant handlers in pumping narcotics into Kashmir.

“One Shakir Ali Khan, a Pakistan-based militant handler originally hailing from Keran in Kupwara, has emerged as the main supplier of narcotics, who sent drugs to his son Tahmeed Khan on this side of the LoC,” a police official said.Two packets containing about 2kg heroin-like narcotics were recovered from Tahmeed’s house. Shakir had crossed the LoC in the early 1990s.

“After obtaining arms training, Shakir infiltrated back and remained a Hizbul Mujahideen militant for some time in the Keran-Kupwara sector. He then again crossed over to PoK and is now a top militant handler, pushing arms, ammunition and narcotics to the Valley,” the police official said.

During the investigation, it was found that about 5kg drugs valued at Rs 5 crore was smuggled into Kashmir from Pakistan by this gang in the last three months.According to the police, 85 cases under NDPS Act have been registered against 161 persons in north Kashmir this year so far and 33 people involved in narcotics smuggling have been detained and booked under PSA ( PIT-NDPS Act) and lodged in different jails.