Jammu, June 17: Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu Joginder Singh on Wednesday stated to have busted a major “narco-terrorism syndicate” having Pak connections, with the arrest of its three kingpins from Amritsar.”
He identified the arrested accused as Surajdeep Singh, Harpreet Singh and Jaspreet and stated that the trio was responsible for supplying nearly 80 percent of narcotic substances to Jammu district.
SSP Jammu, while addressing a press conference here, stated that the District Police, while busting this module, also recovered weaponry including AK-47, AK-56, live rounds, Rs 11 lakh cash, commercial-grade narcotics, dynamic logistics equipment and premium luxury vehicles used to facilitate illicit operations. He said that all the three accused formed part of backward links in various NDPS cases registered across Jammu.
“The accused were backward links of Lau Gujjar and his network operating in J&K which had numerous FIRs pending against them. Arrests in his backward link had led to arrest and questioning of Lateef, Bachu, Majeeda and Mushtaq, who had revealed Suraj and Raju to be his backward links,” SSP Jammu informed.
Describing it as a major breakthrough targetting organised crime and narcotics-terrorism syndicates, he said, “Jammu police, under a high-level operation following a meticulous search operation, have arrested Surajdeep Singh alias Suraj, resident of Jandiala, Harpreet Singh alias Raju and Jaspreet in Amritsar under FIR 51/26 of Police Station Miran Sahib, FIR 58/26 of Police Station Bishnah and FIR 137/26 of Police Station Nagrota and FIR 48/26 of Police Station Gangyal.”
He pointed out that the three accused would supply narcotics to nearly 20 forward links in Jammu and adjoining districts of Samba and Kathua.
According to SSP Jammu, the strategic raids by the Police teams, comprising ESU Jammu team, SHO Miran Sahib and PSIs from Bishnah, Miran Sahib and Punjab Police, on their (accused’s) premises resulted in the seizure of one AK 56; AK-47 rifle; forty live AK-47 rounds; one Star pistol; twenty-nine live pistol cartridges; four live 12 Bore cartridges; approximately 1.020 kg narcotic substances; one electronic weighing machine; packing pouches; one roll of packing tape; cash amounting to approximately Rs 11,00,000; 3 mobile phones and three vehicles viz., Mahindra Thar, Amaze and Swift.
Detailing about their modus operandi, SSP Joginder Singh stated that entire supply – drugs, arms and ammunition- came from across the border, generally dropped through drones and supplied through Punjab border to Jammu and also through Line of Control in Uri sector in Kashmir valley – establishing deep conspiracy of the neighbouring nation.
“Either the suppliers from Jammu and other parts would go to collect supplies or would get it through couriers across J&K, particularly Samba, Kathua and Jammu districts,” SSP Jammu stated.
He asserted that the operation was conducted with full cooperation from Punjab Police. “Legal proceedings are currently underway,” SSP said.
Giving a detailed account of the operation, the top cop of the district Jammu shared that three teams of Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) had gone to Punjab in connection with drug-peddling related operation on June 16.
He informed that earlier in a separate operation, a consignment of narcotics drugs from their custody, besides two vehicles, was seized from three persons who had come to Jammu from Kashmir.
“In both the operations, an international angle has been discovered. They have connections across the border (Pakistan). For the past 60-65 days, we have been working on an intensified drive launched against drugs under “Nasha Mukt Jammu Kashmir Abhiyan”- the dream project of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. Under this project, we have achieved a big success in dismantling the supply chain ecosystem in Jammu,” SSP Singh said.
He maintained that the district Police had been working for the past several months on the operation which was finally conducted on June 16.
“During the process, we have busted (crushed) several supply chain modules and as a part of that many peddlers were identified and arrested. While studying the backward and forward links of that supply chain, we found that all the links, particularly backward links, were traced back to Punjab. Following a comprehensive scrutiny, we analysed that two to three persons with different names, identities and numbers were delivering (narcotics or drugs) consignments to all the suppliers across Jammu and its adjoining districts from Punjab,” he asserted.
SSP Jammu said that JKP’s ESU team worked hard to identify those persons. The investigation revealed that three to four persons constituted the supply chain. For their identification, their physical verification was done. District Police teams visited their residences or other identified locations to pin-point wanted accused.
“The module busted on June 16 was, broadly, responsible for 60-70 percent supply in Jammu. After this module was identified beyond any suspicion, the District Police contacted Punjab Police, which fully cooperated with JKP in recovering and arresting them. Punjab Police, with whom JKP enjoyed great coordination, finally handed over the arrested accused to us,” he said.
“During investigation of all cases registered with the District Police, we identified three cases where under their (accused’s) arrest and search warrants were procured. Following it, our three teams i.e., Nagrota, Miran Sahib and Bishnah Police Stations, also comprising the members of identifying teams, proceeded to Punjab for the operation,” SSP Jammu said.
In the case of the supply chain, the District Police, according to him, so far identified 20 individuals linked to this group.
He said that maximum identified persons were arrested and it was established that these 20 persons were mainly behind this entire supply chain to Jammu.
“During ongoing 100-campaign, we have not only been working on the supply chain but also striving hard to contain demand. So far, 280 cases have been registered,” SSP Jammu said.
