International drug racket unearthed; 5 arrested;Rs 11.44 lakh, 10 Kg each of brown sugar, heroin seized

 STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: In a major crack down on narco smugglers, Jammu and Kashmir police on Tuesday claimed to have busted an International drug racket by recovering huge quantity of heroin worth crores of rupees from a fabricated car near Narwal naka late Monday night.
The drug consignment is believed to have been smuggled inside India from across the Line of Control. For the first time involvement of conduits from Southern state of Kerala has also surfaced in the drug racket following arrest of two youth from that state.
The drug consignment, which consisted of 10 kgs of heroin and 10 kgs of brown sugar was being transported from frontier Tangdhar area of Kupwara district to Kerala via middlemen from Punjab, presently staying in Jammu.
According to police, five persons identified as Shafiq Ahmad and Abdul Manan, both residents of Tangdhar, Jithin PC, resident of Padinjekundii Marudha Mundapotty Mallapuram, Kerala, Nizam-ud-Din resident of Thotakkad House Kunnumalpotty, and Surjeet Singh, resident of Kamkote Beas, Amritsar, presently staying in Deoli Bishnah have been arrested.
Police has registered a FIR 104/16 under section 8/21 of NDPS Act at Bahu Fort Police Station.
According to the police, the drug consignment was hidden inside the fabricated car by the drug peddlers to deceive police. Addressing a press conference here, Inspector General of Police (Jammu Range) Danesh Rana told reporters, “Acting on a credible intelligence input about the movement of suspected drug peddlers, the State police had alerted several security check points along the Jammu -Srinagar national highway”.
He said late night when a Santro car, bearing registration number JK03B 5905, was caught at the Narwal naka, the driver tried to ran away. He was intercepted after a hot chase and on thorough checking of the vehicle the police team stumbled upon a huge consignment of heroin and brown sugar.
Police also recovered a cash consignment to the tune of Rs. 11.44 lakh from the possession of drug peddlers.
IG Danesh Rana said so far five people ,two each from Kashmir and Kerala and one middle man from Punjab currently staying in Bishnah, have been arrested.
He said, “We are still investigating the case from all angles to track down route adopted by the drug consignment before reaching hands of these drug peddlers.”
The state police is also trying to ascertain whether there is any common link between the drug smugglers and those who smuggle weapons from across the Line of Control.