Aatif Qayoom/ Noor Mohi-Ud-Din
Srinagar, Dec 24: As many as 45 people have been booked under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in the twin border districts of north Kashmir, Baramulla and Kupwara, and seized brown sugar and other narcotics worth crores of rupees from their possession.
As per the details, most of the drug peddlers were arrested from Uri town, Baramulla, and Tangdar in the Kupwara district. In the Baramulla district, 121 people were arrested in 90 NDPS cases. Among them, 12 were underbooked under the strict laws of the Public Safety Act.
The contraband substance includes brown sugar, weighing 2.241 kilograms, with an international market rate of around 2.5 crores; heroin, weighing 34.642 kilogrammes (approximately 33.94 crores); and charas, weighing 5.94 kilogrammes (approximately 20 lacs).
In Kupwara, as many as 161 people, including some police officers, have been arrested in 85 cases this year; 33 of them have been booked under the Public Safety Act and are being held in various jails across the country.
In the Kupwara district, the maximum number of drug dealers were arrested in the border town of Tangdar, and most of the drugs, according to the police, come from across the border.
“In the Kupwara district, charas weighing approximately 27 kilograms (an approximate value of 50 lakhs), heroin weighing approximately 20 kilograms with an international market value of 20 crores, brown sugar weighing approximately 8 kilograms with an international market value of 8 crores, codeine weighing approximately 450 bottles, and cash amounting to 11,825,00were seized this year,” said SSP Kupwara Yougal Manhas.
According to a senior police officer from Kupwara, the police have launched a rigorous campaign against drug dealers in the frontier district of Kupwara, and drug peddlers are arrested every day.
He stated that the way they are being caught this year is unprecedented.
The official stated that “we have been witnessing an ever-increasing vigil on such activities in both the districts,” adding that “not only are we launching action against those directly involved in the activity, but the law enforcement agencies have also held seminars throughout the year, especially at educational institutions, to generate awareness about the negative effects of drug consumption.”
The official made a second appeal and pleaded with the populace to refrain from engaging in such activities, which would be interpreted as being against the law.
Aadil Bashir, a resident of Kupwara, told Rising Kashmir that drugs are common everywhere here and the police need to act tough against the peddlers. I desire the way the Kupwara police have launched a campaign against drug trafficking here; this campaign needs to be launched everywhere in Kashmir.
Bashir said, “Everyday drug peddler are arrested in different parts of Kashmir, and it is the right time for everyone to come forward to curb this drug menace in the valley.” “If the drugs are not stopped at the earliest possible time in the coming years, this will be disastrous, and the future of our generation will become hell.”
