NIA FILES CHARGESHEET AGAINST 7 NARCO SMUGGLERS IN JAMMU

JAMMU: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Saturday filed a chargesheet against seven narco-smugglers associated with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a proscribed terror outfit, before a special NIA court here.

The accused were identified as Gurpartap Singh of Tarn Taran in Punjab, Sham Lal, Ajeet Kumar alias Kala, Bishan Das alias Raju, Jasraj Singh, Subhash Chander and Gurbaksh Singh, all residents of Jammu.

The case has been registered under Section 8/21/23/25/27/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17/18/38/39/40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in the NIA Special Court, Jammu.

The case was registered in Arnia police station in September last after 61-kg heroin, 1.2-kg opium, two pistols, three magazines and 100 live rounds were recovered during a search at the International Border, near RS Pura, Jammu.

The NIA had re-registered the case in November last year and took up the investigation.

“Probe revealed the accused were part of a narco-terrorism module of terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). The prime objective of this module was to raise funds for BKI through proceeds of narcotics,” said an official spokesperson.

The modus operandi involved smuggling narcotics, arms and ammunition across the International Border in Jammu region and supplying it to Punjab.

“After the arrest of the accused, further searches were conducted which had led to recovery of drug Rs 9 lakh more arms and ammunitions and other incriminating materials,” added the spokesperson.