Two drug smugglers held in Jammu

J&K: Two suspected drug peddlers were arrested after they attempted to evade a police checkpoint in the Kupwara region of Jammu and Kashmir. The arrested duo were discovered with what appears to be 500g of heroin which was allegedly smuggled from Pakistan, police reports said.

According to an official statement, the duo tried to escape from a police naka (checkpoint). Noticing the suspicious movement and deliberate intention to jump the naka, the police team apprehended the duo and on personal search recovered 230 gm of a heroin-like substance from Ishtiyaq Ahmad Qureshi, resident of Taad, and 270 gm of the banned drug from Basharat Hussain Shah resident of Padna Taad Karnah.

"From the preliminary investigations, it has transpired that the drugs have been smuggled to this side of Line of Control by the duo in conspiracy with the Pakistani nationals," says the official note. An FIR has been filed under relevant sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 in Police Station Karnah, the Hindustan Times reported.

The Indian Border Security Force had already warned of increased drone sightings along the borders with Pakistan, with at least 24 reported drone sightings in the Jammu frontier alone in the last year. Drones were often used to drop caches of arms, explosives and drugs which Pakistan has been pushing into India, intelligence reports have claimed.

The majority of drone sightings were along the border in Punjab, where 67 were reported by the BSF.

BSF data shows that about 80 per cent of seizures along the western border in 2021 were in Punjab. Out of the total of 599.220 kgs of heroin seized, 485.165 kgs was in Punjab, followed by 57.670 kgs in Rajasthan and 37.935 kgs in Jammu, the Tribune reported.

Last year, the BSF apprehended 38 Pakistani nationals, including criminals and inadvertent crossers, out of which 28 were in Punjab. Four Pakistani nationals were apprehended in Rajasthan and three each in Jammu and Gujarat.