Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 31: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) continued raids in Poonch district for third consecutive day today in connection with narco-terror case involving don Rafiq Lala and others.
The SIA has also taken the custody of Lala’s close associate Mohammad Farooq and will be subjecting them to cross-questioning on return from the border district to extract more clues.
The SIA teams led by senior officers took both the accused to Raja Sukhdev Singh District Hospital Poonch for medical examination.
Farooq was later produced in the Poonch court for transit remand as the SIA has to take him to Jammu.
Sources said houses, shops and other premises of nearly half a dozen suspects were searched by the SIA teams at different places in Poonch district today. Mobile telephones of the suspects were also taken for investigations in the case as they might contain data linked to narco-terror case.
During last three days of searches in Poonch district, the SIA team quizzed nearly 20 persons and searched their premises including houses, shops etc to know their links with Rafiq Lala.
The SIA teams are likely to return here tomorrow to scrutinize the records seized during three days to identify more contacts and activities of Rafiq Lala, the sources said.
Lala was arrested on March 3 along with seven kilograms heroin costing several crores in the international market, Rs 2.3 cr cash, pistol and cartridges. On July 1, the SIA had taken him on remand for questioning in view of his deep connections in Pakistan and PoJK.
“Initially Lala acted as narco smuggler but gradually, Pakistan army and ISI besides militant commanders managed to persuade him to smuggle consignments of arms, ammunition and explosives also from Pakistan and PoJK to Poonch for subsequently handing them over to militants, mostly in South Kashmir and sometimes in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch,” the sources said.
They added that Rafiq Lala was involved in drug peddling since 2003-04.
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