Trio held with arms, narcotics in Kashmir

nSRINAGAR: Security forces on Saturday night recovered a large quantity of narcotics and weapons from two vehicles and arrested three persons in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, officials said.

This is the second time in the past one month that the security forces have recovered drugs and ammunition from the same caches. Police spokesman Manoj Kumar said that the seizure was done by a joint party of army and police at a checkpoint in Kupwara. “Ten kilograms of brown sugar, an AK-47 rifle, two pistols, 20 grenades and other ammunition recovered by a joint team of army and Kashmir Police during checking at Sadhna Top Kupwara in north Kashmir,” he said.

Three persons travelling in two vehicles were arrested and the vehicles seized. “Some more arrests are expected,” he said.

An army spokesman said that it was a ‘huge consignment’ of war-like stores and narcotics, and the arrests were made after getting inputs about smuggling. “An army dog, aided by detectors and scanners, facilitated the finding of hidden packages from the vehicle. The search operation led to apprehension of three suspects and seizure of two vehicles,” the spokesman said.

More searches are going on in the area. “Joint search operation is in progress,” he said.

On June 27, security forces had arrested two alleged drug and weapon smugglers and recovered a large cache of items in Kupwara district. Police had said that approximately 13.5kg of narcotics, estimated to be worth ₹65 crore, and arms and ammunition, including two pistols, four magazines, 55 pistol rounds, four hand grenades and 10 detonators, had been recovered.