Two routes, one destination: How heroin is entering Jammu from Punjab and Kashmir

Two narcotic hauls within a fortnight have revealed that heroin is being pushed into Jammu not only from across the Line of Control in Kashmir, but also from across the international border in neighbouring Punjab, officials said.

Narcotics Control Bureau officials claim to have identified two separate routes – one from the Punjab–Jammu corridor and another through Uri in North Kashmir. In the last operation, officials claim to have seized 522 grams of heroin from a passenger on a Jammu-bound bus that was intercepted near the New Bus Stand, Samba, on September 3.

The bus was coming from Punjab, officials said. The seizure led investigators to Ludhiana, Punjab, where officials claimed to have recovered another 197 grams of heroin in a follow-up operation on Septmber 4. This comes on the heels of another major anti-narcotics operation, leading to the seizure of 5.160 kg of heroin from a vehicle in Jammu city’s Panjtirthi area on August 22.

Investigators claim that this consignment had originated from Pakistan and entered Jammu Kashmir through the Uri sector. The trail from that case led investigators to the Union Territory of Ladakh, with officials arresting three Baramulla natives in Leh.

Investigators claim that the two operations led to a cumulative seizure of 6.920 kg of heroin. “As part of the same sustained offensive, NCB also conducted two separate operations inside drug-affected 'bastis' in the Jammu and Samba belt, recovering another 438 grams and 603 grams of Heroin respectively,” an NCB spokesperson said.

The NCB’s strategy is to race the drugs from the source to the intended destination, “intending to identify and dismantle the entire trafficking chain”. Further investigation is underway to identify the source, intended recipients, financiers and other associates of these networks and to trace their wider interstate and cross-border linkages, he added.