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| Kashmir-to-Karnataka drug network busted: 8 held, pistol, heroin, gold, crores in cash seized | | |  Atul Sharma
Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 1: Police in Srinagar have dismantled an interstate narcotics network that ran from the Valley’s downtown to Karnataka and the northern states, arresting eight people and seizing cash, gold, a pistol, heroin and a huge haul of banned pharmaceutical drugs.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, SSP Srinagar GV Sandeep Chakravarthy said the accused, mostly from downtown Srinagar, sourced banned drugs from pharmaceutical suppliers outside J&K and pushed them to young people in the region. He stressed that these were not ordinary peddlers.
The group functioned as an organised interstate network in which every member had a defined role.
The initial seizures included Rs 85.76 lakh in cash, 108 gold coins valued at Rs 1.27 crore and 17 grams of gold worth Rs 2.55 lakh. Police also recovered heroin, a pistol and vehicles.
The financial probe then led investigators to two Axis Bank lockers in Bemina, held in the name of accused Mohammad Waseem Zargar. Searched on court orders, they yielded another Rs 65 lakh in cash along with gold coins. Police put the locker recovery at around Rs 2.20 crore.
Multiple bank accounts linked to the accused and others under scrutiny have been frozen, with about Rs 1.07 crore identified so far. A residential house and two vehicles have been attached under the NDPS Act. Police are examining the source of the money, the transaction trail and the wider financial linkages.
Those arrested are Mohammad Waseem Zargar, Haris Hameed Malla, Aqib Saleem Dar, Inam Ahmad Zargar, Sahib Ahmad Ganaie, Peer Shakoor and Haroon Pandit, all from Srinagar, and Ansar Hussain Bhat of Budgam. Malla was traced through technical surveillance and caught in Bengaluru.
Two more suspects linked to the pharmaceutical supply chain are absconding: Faizan Firdous Khanday of Srinagar and Mohammad Shahwar of Uttar Pradesh.
The SSP said a local extortion gang in Srinagar was part of the syndicate, while Pakistan’s role has not been established so far. The case began with an investigation at Police Station Safakadal.
Tracing the supply chain backwards, Srinagar Police teams carried out raids in Chandigarh, Ambala and Panchkula with local counterparts.
Chakravarthy said the investigation is far from over and more arrests and recoveries are expected. Police will go after distributors and trace the money trail both ways, he said. Reiterating a zero-tolerance stance, he warned that police would act ruthlessly against drug peddlers and smugglers and target their properties. |
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