Srinagar, Feb 9: Police on Wednesday claimed that 72 per cent protesters arrested during 2010 in Srinagar have had ‘personal problems’ and many were ‘drug addicts’ as well.
 The claim comes barely a month after police had said that stone pelting and protests in Kashmir were instigated by militant outfits.
 The police had exposed such “nexuses” in north, south and central Kashmir and substantiated their findings with evidences.
 “Around 72 percent stone pelters have some social problems like there is family feud, or their relation with their parents is not good,” the SSP Srinagar, Syed Ashiq Bukhari told a news conference here.
 “More than 1000 protesters were detained in Srinagar. And many among them were found to be drug addicts,” the SSP claimed.
 “Some youth were arrested and we recovered steroids from their possession from the Safa Kadal area. The use of drugs has turned them into a raw material and they can be exploited,” Bukhari said.
 Holding a picture depicting a youth over a white colored bullet proof police gypsy, he said “They do such acts of heroism only under the influence of drugs”.
 The SSP, who was flanked by other senior officers including SP Hazratbal, Abdul Waheed, said that police came to know about youth taking drugs following the arrest of four persons who were involved in the drug trade. “We recovered 159 injections and 45 kilograms of dry cannabis from their possession,” he added.
 He said 45 Kgs of cannabis were recovered from Abdul Majid Sofi of Gund Tailbal from bus stand at Nageen. The accused, according to SSP had  purchased dried cannabis from Awantipora Pulwama.
 “A case FIR No. 08/2011 under section 8/20 NDPS Act was registered against them.
 Meanwhile, the SSP said police station Shaheed Gunj apprehended four persons from Pattan Baramulla and recovered two stolen Maruti cars from them. He identified arrested persons as Muhammad Yaseen, Muhammad Rafiq, Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Maqbool.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Feb 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 IST