An amount worth Rs 1.64 crore was recovered during a joint search operation launched by the Army and the J&K Police near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera area of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.
The amount is believed to be abandoned by a notorious drug peddler, who is a member of the international drug mafia involving smugglers from across the border and different parts of the country.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajouri, Sheema Nabi Qasba said the recovery was made from two bags belonging to local resident Manzoor Ahmad in Saryah village. Ahmad is still evading arrest.
"A case under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act has been lodged in police station Nowshera in connection with the recovery and efforts are on to arrest Ahmad for further investigation," Qasba told reporters.
She said the joint operation was carried out on credible inputs and the money kept in the two bags amounting to Rs 1,64,70,600 was seized in the presence of a magistrate.
Ahmad is a relative of drug peddler Sikandar who was recently arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act by a joint team of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir Police from Nangal in Punjab. Qasba said more arrests and recoveries are expected during the investigation of the case.
Rs 29.5 lakh recovered from drug peddler's house
On Friday, a Punjab Police party assisted by local police raided the house of a drug peddler in the Jhangar area near the LOC in the Nowshera sector and recovered Rs 29.5 lakh cash.
Reports said that a Punjab police party had arrested a smuggler from the Nowshera area a few days ago and taken to Punjab. On the tip-off provided by him, the police team from Amritsar with the assistance of Nowshera police conducted a raid in the house of Sikander Kumar at Sarya village today and recovered huge cash. He had links with the smugglers in Punjab. A case FIR No. 164/ 2021 under NDPS Act stands registered in this connection.
Earlier a Sarpanch from arrested with heroin
With the support of their mentors sitting across the border, the drug mafia has been procuring narcotics from the other side of the LoC.
On August 26, a Sarpanch from a remote Doongi block near the LoC in district Rajouri was arrested along with a consignment of heroin by police during Naka in the Sunderbani area of the district.
The Sarpanch was on way to take this consignment to Jammu in his car. Acting on the tip-off, the police party from Sunderbani Police Station laid a Naka on the Jammu-Poonch highway. During checking, the team led by SHO Sunderbani intercepted a car. During frisking of said vehicle, a consignment measuring 690 grams of heroin was recovered, which was seized.
The arrested person was identified as Choudhary Liyaquat Alia resident of Challas Panchayat in Doongi Block of district Rajouri. Later, it was discovered that the accused is Sarpanch of his village, falling in Doongi block.
A case FIR No. 79/2021 under sections 8/21/22 of NDPS Act has been registered in Sunderbani Police Station and further investigation is going on to unearth all the links connected with the arrested Sarpanch in the smuggling of Narcotics.
Consignment smuggled from across LoC
During the initial investigation, it was established that the consignment had arrived here from that side of the LoC and this network was operating in the area for the past several years. The recovered consignment was enough to prepare around 2,800 doses, valuing lakhs of rupees in the market.
Question of the arrested Sarpanch is going on for the last one week and police have reportedly received vital links to bust the module.
