250 narcotic smugglers booked under PSA in J&K in 2023: DGP

Jammu, Dec 30 (PTI) As many as 250 narcotic smugglers were booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in Jammu and Kashmir this year, Director General of Police R R Swain said on Saturday.

He said 15 cases of narco-terror came to light during the year and that the police will seek help from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Interpol to take legal action against the masterminds sitting in different foreign countries, including Turkey.

“A total of 250 persons were detained under PSA this year compared to 191 in the previous year, marking an increase of 31 per cent. Similarly, 2,400 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act this year as against 1,659 cases in 2022,” the DGP told reporters here.

He said charge sheets were filed in 1,710 cases under the NDPS Act, leading to 127 convictions so far.

During drives against narcotic smugglers, authorities recovered 297 kg heroin, 330 kg charas, 63 kg brown sugar, 6,557 kg poppy straw, 118 kg ganja and 118 kg opium, the police chief said. Rs 10.90 crore was also seized.

He said the first evidence of narco-terror came to light in 2022, ending speculation and doubts about the linkage between narcotic smugglers and terrorists.

“The investigation of NDPS cases was taken to a different level this year with the State Investigation Agency (SIA) taking over the probe in some major cases. We are determined to expose backward and forward linkages of all cases to nail the smugglers within and outside Jammu and Kashmir,” the DGP said.

He said heroin is smuggled from Pakistan and transported to Delhi under a well-knit business model under which one kg of heroin worth Rs 5 lakh on reaching Delhi is sold for Rs 1 crore.

“SIA has played a major role in exposing the drug trafficking rackets and in one such case, 19 accused were arrested from Kashmir, Jammu and Punjab. The network was controlled by a person sitting in Turkey, Paris and sometimes in Canada,” he said.

Swain also referred to the arrest of two Punjab-based narcotic smugglers with drugs worth over Rs 300 crore in October and said the mastermind behind the smuggling attempt was not based in Pakistan but resides in Turkey.

On cyber crime cases, the DGP said this is an under-reported crime which is affecting a larger number of citizens that reported.