Paramilitary Soldier Among 3 Arrested For Pak-Linked Drug Trafficking

Srinagar: Three people including a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldier have been arrested for running a crossborder drug smuggling racket in Jammu and Kashmir.

The arrests were made after the police seized over 11 kg of heroin and more than Rs 11 lakh at Rajbagh, an uptown neighbourhood in Srinagar.

The police said the seizure is worth Rs 70 crore in the international market.

During investigation, CRPF soldier Sajad Badana emerged as the kingpin of the narco smuggling racket from Pakistan.

All the three accused are residents of a border area in Kupwara district’s Karnah.

“We arrested him (CRPF soldier) yesterday. Initially, he didn’t disclose his identity. But during investigation we found he’s a CRPF soldier posted in Jammu region,” said Rajesh Balwal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Srinagar.

This was the third drug trafficking case in the past three months when security forces personnel have been arrested.

In February, nine people including five army soldiers were arrested for smuggling drugs from the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district.

On December 23, the police in a major crackdown on drug smuggling originating from Pakistan arrested 17 people including five policemen in Kupwara district.

In all the three cases, drugs came from Pakistan through the Tangdhar sector, and the accused security forces personnel have been found playing key roles in drug trafficking.

Drug smuggling originating from Pakistan has become a major challenge for the government even as the police have intensified their crackdown.

A year ago, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested a Border Security Force (BSF) officer in Handwara area of Kupwara district on charges of crossborder drug smuggling linked with the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The NIA had recovered Rs 91 lakh from a BSF sub-inspector Romesh Kumar. The cash was part of the proceeds of drug trafficking.

Early last year, the counter intelligence wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police filed a first information report (FIR) against four security forces officers for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.