Mandi, November 23
The arrest of two youths, one from Sangrur and the other from Talwara, both in Punjab, here last week under the Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances act by the Mandi police has brought into focus a new mode of charas smuggling in the state.
Though the HP Police has yet to tighten loose ends, the smugglers especially the younger lot, is using two-wheelers for smuggling out contraband consignments under the nose of the police.
According to sources, the smugglers come from Punjab and Haryana on bikes in the garb of pilgrims to Manikaran and leave with charas consignments.
“Since they are not checked by the police, they have managed the contraband trade over the years”, said the sources.
What is significant in both cases is that the police caught the smugglers not on the basis of any tip-off, but accidentally.
One Ashok Kumar from Sangrur, who got panicky in the presence of the police, was arrested after the police found 2 kg of charas in his possession at Balichowki in Mandi district on Friday.
He was hiding the consignment in a plastic bag under the blanket that covered him, said the police.
In the second case, the Mandi police laid a trap for a mobile thief in the town near the Brindbani barrier here last week. Instead of catching the thief, they stumbled upon two motorcycle-born youths who overran and wounded one of the cops.
The police managed to catch one, Iqbal Singh, at Drang on the Jogindernagar-Pathankot highway and found 2 kg of charas from his bag. His accomplice is absconded.
The sources said September-October-November is the peak season when charas consignments are smuggled out from drug havens of Malana, Manikaran, Manali, Tosh and Kasol in Kulu district and Balichowki, Jhanjheli and other villages of Mandi district bordering Kulu district.
These places have emerged as new havens for low-budget foreigners who visit there, scouting for the drug, which is sold in the international market at hefty prices.
The charas cartels are not using the Nepalese youth as cheap couriers to deliver the assignments to markets in Delhi, Punjab Haryana and Goa. Unemployed youth from the region are being lured into the trade.
The Superintendent of Police, Mandi, Mr Ajay Yadav, said charas from the Mandi-Kulu belt is smuggled into the Sangrur-Nawanshar areas, while the charas from Chamba and Jammu and Kashmir found its way into the Pathankot-Jalandhar belt.
“We have ceased over 100 kg of charas till this month,” he said.
