Pak-based ultras using Punjab smugglers to fuel narco-terror

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, October 26

After initial investigation into the recent smuggling bid of 21.5-kg heroin, seized in Udhampur from a Punjab-bound truck, the police suspect it to be part of a bigger game plan of Pakistan’s ISI to push drug money for terror activities in J&K. The truck driver, Kulwinder Singh, of Nawanshahr in Punjab was in touch with a Pakistan-based handler who had been guiding him through a social media application. The police have claimed that the driver had been to the Valley two to three times earlier.

Intelligence sources said, “This serves double purpose for Pakistan. On one hand they destroy the future of the young generation by making them drug addicts.On the other hand, they generate funds for terror activities. Many Punjab-based drug peddlers are in contact with their Pakistan handlers who push drugs into J&K and forward it to Punjab where a network for sale is already in place. The money is sent to Pakistan through hawala routed from other countries.”

Terror groups in Pakistan are already under pressure as security and intelligence agencies in India have disrupted the network of these groups by arresting the associates of militant organisations and even freezing their bank accounts. The NIA and the SIA have conducted several raids in the past in which those involved in terror funding were arrested. DGP Dilbag Singh had said a few months ago that narco-terrorism by Pakistan was the biggest challenge for security forces. He had said, “Though the police are dealing with narco-terrorism effectively by busting modules, a lot more needs to be done.”

Many heroin recoveries worth crores of rupees, including the recent one, were made from Punjab-based peddlers.

On July 12, the Jammu police arrested Sarvan Singh, Malkeet Singh and Balbir Singh, all residents of Amritsar, and seized 12-kg heroin.

The Udhampur police had in September arrested Lovepreet Singh and his wife Mandeep Kaur of Amritsar and seized 7-kg heroin.

In November last year, the Jammu police had seized 52-kg heroin from a Punjab-bound truck at Jhajjar Kotli on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The police had stated at that time that the recovery was part of narco-terror.

A nexus between the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Punjab-based gangsters was exposed in July this year when the SIA filed a chargesheet against five in a terror-funding case, including a terrorist based in Pakistan. The case pertains to recovery of Rs 43 lakh from a Kashmir-bound vehicle in November last year.

Several instances

• 21.5-kg heroin seized in Udhampur on October 23. Punjab man held.
• 12-kg heroin seized in Jammu on July 12. 3 of Amritsar arrested.
• Amritsar couple held with 7-kg heroin in Udhampur in September.
• 52-kg heroin seized at Jhajjar Kotli in November last year.