34KG HEROIN BOUND FOR PUNJAB SEIZED

NCB recovers 60kg of contraband in backtoback raids in three days

JAMMU : Two days after the Jammu Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 22kg of heroin in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua and arrested four persons, the bureau on Thursday recovered another haul of 38kg of the contraband from Lachipura in Uri sector.

The NCB had arrested Bashir Ahmed, Wasim Mohammed and Feroz Ahmed, all residents of Handwara in J&K on September 4 when they were on their way to deliver the contraband consignment in Jalandhar to Paramjeet Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran.

During interrogation, one of the arrested accused revealed that another consignment of heroin, which was also to be supplied in Punjab, was hidden in the courtyard of his house in Lachipura. A bureau team from Jammu on Wednesday raided the place and recovered 38.070kg of heroin from the accused’s house.

With this, the NCB has seized 60kg of heroin in back-to-back raids in three days, the biggest drug haul this year.

“It is a big seizure by the NCB. The total consignment was of 60kg, out which 22kg was seized on Tuesday. The rest 38kg too was meant for Jalandhar,” Jammu zone NCB superintendent KP Tiwari said.

To a question whether the contraband has made its way from Afghanistan via Pakistan into north Kashmir, Tiwari said: “Its origin was Afghanistan as we also found Afghan currency with the contraband.”

Acting on a tip-off, a team of NCB laid a checkpoint at Pali Morh on September 4 and intercepted a car in which the three smugglers were travelling from Handwara in north Kashmir to Jalandhar.

The contraband was hidden in a cavity in the car. The NCB arrested all three smugglers with 22.145 kg of heroin.

The NCB then took the accused in transit remand and met the receiver of the consignment Paramjeet of Tarn Taran, in Jalandhar. Paramjeet was arrested and the NCB recovered ₹17.5 lakh from his possession.

A case under NDPS Act was registered against the accused.

On Tuesday, NCB zonal director Virender Yadav didn’t rule out the possibility of the drug money being used for funding terror. “To date, I have no evidence to prove its link (seizure of contraband) to terror funding. The investigation is on in other cases and we will also probe the terror funding angle,” Yadav said on Tuesday.