Jammu Tawi, Oct 6 : Jammu and Kashmir Police has arrested four persons allegedly linked with a cross-border drug-smuggling racket and recovered more than 1 kg of narcotics besides a pistol and live ammunition from their possession, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrests followed investigation with an alleged airdrop of narcotics in a forward village in Arnia sector, purportedly by Pakistan-based handlers, officials said.
A police spokesman said four persons, including a Punjab resident, have been arrested in this connection so far, and a pistol, two magazines, four rounds and more than 1 kg of heroin and opium were recovered from them.
Rahul Kumar of Trewa and Ajay Kumar alias “Rabb” of Talhar were the first to be arrested after a police team intercepted them while they were travelling on a motorcycle at Tamala bridge in Arnia sector. The narcotics consignment and the firearm was recovered from them, police said.
During questioning, names of two alleged peddlers — Ajay Kumar alias “Sam” and Jaganpreet Randhawa alias “Jaggi” — surfaced, and they were subsequently arrested from Jammu and an unspecified location in Punjab, respectively.
Officials said the accused admitted their links with Pakistan-based handlers, and revealed that they had received two drone-dropped narcotics consignments in the past.
An FIR under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Arms Act have been registered and further investigation is underway, they added.
Further, in separate actions across Reasi, Poonch and Jammu districts, nine alleged drug peddlers were arrested Tuesday with various quantities of heroin under the ongoing ‘Nasha Mukt Jammu-Kashmir’ campaign, the spokesman said
He said six of these accused — Sanjay Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Mohan Singh, Vikram Singh, Randhir Singh and Pardeep Singh — were arrested along with 21.09 grams of heroin and sharp-edged weapons from Guni Parthal area of Katra in Reasi.
Another accused, Abhinav Rana of Himachal Pradesh, was arrested with 80 grams of ganja along the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage route in Katra, the spokesman said.
Asif Iqbal, a notorious drug peddler, was arrested after 8.25 grams of heroin and 16 grams of ganja were recovered from him during checking in Surankote area of Poonch district, while another alleged peddler Ankush Kumar was arrested along with 8 grams of heroin from Narwal in Jammu district.