Bandipora: At least two infamous drug cartels in business for 25 years have been busted in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district and 63 NDPS cases have been registered while 90 arrests were made in two years.
According to Police, to avoid suspicion, they used to keep a good rapport with the high-ranking officials of both the Police and civil administration in the district. “Few cartels were active for the past 24 to 25 years and were never exposed,” a senior ranking Police official said. “Mandela, Khurshid, Yousuf, Ilyas were the kingpins and they would use women to peddle drugs.”
He said that so far there were no reports of cross-border nexus and the district was facing the problem of drug peddling from Srinagar and Sopore.
The official said another concern was that of consumption and that they were keeping an eye on “dark areas”. DySP Headquarters Shafaat Muhammad said that the drug peddlers had gone hi-tech and would escort vehicles with drugs and smelling a threat would act accordingly,” he said.
Police said that as Bandipora was small and a hilly district and people were not economically well off, there was less purchasing capacity for drugs.
They said fewer incidents were being reported from the district except for Bandipora main town and the Sumbal belt that includes Ajas.
Police said most of the drugs were coming from the southern belt via Hajin and Sumbal.
The DySP Headquarters said that the peddlers were targeting private schools where they target economically well-off students and groom them in such a way that they start consuming drugs.
In 2021, 36 cases were registered under the NDPS while 45 arrests were made against 35 who had been charged.
The contraband substances recovered during 2021 included 28.36 kg of Charas powder, 16144 tablets of Spasmo and Proxyvon, 300 tablets of Becalm 0.5, 748 tablets of Proxywel-spas, 240 tablets of Alprasafe 0.5, 685 gm Charas, 30 Tramafar injections, 104 bottles of Codeine, 100 tablets of Clops, 230 tablets of Anxo 0.50, 656 tablets of Dicyclomine Hydrochloride and Accaminophen, 463 tablets of Spasmo Plus, 30 tablets of Mefar PD, 11 kg of Bungh leaves, 4.5 kg poppy straw, 1.5 gm brown sugar, 3 kg Bung powder, 600 tablets of Tramadol Hydrochloride, 60 strips of Paracetamol, and 32 tablets of Temispos.
In 2022, till October end, 27 cases under NDPS have been registered and 45 persons arrested of which 14 have been charged.
The contraband substances recovered during 2022 included 256 tablets of Proxywel Spas, 920 tablets of Sposmoproxiyon Plus, 96 tablets of Temi Spas, 176 tablets of Spasmo-perimon, 1290 tablets of Manzipam 0.2, 4.720 kg charas, 8.25 kg charas powder, 1430 bottles of Codeine, 2 bottles of RUM, 13 gm brown sugar, 528 tablets of Superdol, 2.750 kg Bhang leaves.
Two women drug peddlers have also been arrested and three drug peddlers detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PIT NDPS), 1988.