Rajouri, Nov 11: Narcotics addiction among youth and smuggling of narcotics has emerged as a big challenge in the Rajouri and Poonch districts of the Pir Panjal region which is showing deep-rooted networks of narcotic peddling while people are demanding a proper policy to rescue youth that have already fallen in the trap of addiction.
In Rajouri and Poonch narcotics smuggling through the Line of Control (LoC) has always been seen as a major task to deal with as the networks involved in cross-LoC smuggling are considered high value in terms of monetary gains involved because of the high-quality Heroine smuggled by people involved in these networks.
The cost of each kilogram of this heroine is believed to be over Rs 1 crore in the international market.
Police said that 24 FIRs under the NDPS Act that deals with cases of narcotics and drug smuggling were registered in the Rajouri district in 2021 and 34 persons were arrested while 36 FIRs were registered in the Poonch district in 2021 and 48 persons were arrested.
In 2022 (till October 20), 22 FIRs have been registered in Rajouri, and 35 persons were arrested while 46 persons were arrested in Poonch during this time and 36 FIRs were registered.
In 2022, J&K Police, which is the main law-enforcement agency, made large-scale recoveries of drugs and narcotics, especially in Poonch with the value of heroin recovered believed to be in hundreds of crores of rupees.
According to J&K Police, the recovery made in Rajouri till October 20 this year includes 390 gm charas, 6 kg heroine, 300 banner tablets, 79 kg poppy straw, 4 kg Bhaang Ganja and Rs 1,90,640 cash.
Similarly, in Poonch, the value of narcotics seized in the year 2022 is very high as 106 kg of seized heroin is valued at over Rs 110 crore, and most of this consignment is believed to be part of the cross-LoC narcotic smuggling.
Other recoveries made in the Poonch district include 1.32 kg Charas, 9750 banned tablets, 62 kg poppy straw, 2.40 kg Bhang Ganja and Rs 1,75,900 cash.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch range Haseeb Mughal said that J&K Police in the twin districts are putting in all possible efforts for improving all aspects of the anti-drugs drive and large-scale recoveries had been made besides the arrests left.
“We will continue the drive with more vigor and vigil,” he said.