Was absconding since May from Poonch
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 20: A key accused in a case linked to cross-border smuggling of arms, explosives and narcotics into Poonch was arrested from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district today by the State Investigation Agency (SIA).
He has been identified as Mohammad Iqbal son of Slam Din, a resident of village Karmara in Poonch district. He was absconding since the arrest of three of his accomplices who were caught with a huge cache of arms, explosives and narcotics near the border fence in Karmara area of Poonch on the intervening night of May 30 and 31, the officials said.
During investigations, the SIA team found that one Mohammad Iqbal had fled from the spot.
Using technical surveillance and human intelligence, it was ascertained that Iqbal was hiding in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, where he was arrested by a team of the SIA Jammu.
The SIA team was supervised by DySP Rafiq Manhas and comprised Inspector Lakhvir, Inspector Vinod, ASI Deepak Bhat, Head Constable Kanhaya Lal and Selection Grade Constables Gurjeet Singh and Susheel Kumar.
On August 19, the handler of the group – Mohammad Javed, who was also absconding, was arrested by the SIA in an operation in Delhi, which further led to the arrest of another co-conspirator Liyaqat on August 25th from Poonch, they said.
Investigation has revealed the role of handlers operating this narco-terror module from foreign countries including Dubai in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan.
So far, six arrests have been made in the case and forward and backward linkages of the narco terror module are being established, they said.
Further investigation into aspects of cross border operation of this narco terror syndicate, which is found smuggling arms, explosives and narcotics consignments across the border, is ongoing at SIA, the officials said.
The aspects of amassing disproportionate wealth in short periods of time as is seen in this case is being investigated.
Earlier, Mohd Farooq (26), Mohd Riaz (23) and Mohd Zubair (22) were arrested by the Army along with an AK assault rifle, two pistols, six grenades, a 10-kg IED and 20 packets of suspected heroin while they were trying to smuggle the material from across the Line of Control (LoC).
The accused persons were intercepted by the Army after an exchange of fire in which one soldier and one terrorist had sustained injuries.
Earlier, the SIA also conducted raids at several places in Poonch for three consecutive days from July 26 to 28, following the recovery of seven kilograms of heroin, more than Rs 2 crore in cash, and a pistol along with some ammunition from the house of notorious drug peddler Rafiq Lala in Danna Doyiyan area of Sathra on March 3.
Lala was arrested under the Public Safety Act (PSA) early this year. However, the SIA had taken his remand on July 1 for questioning over his alleged links across the border.
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