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A key accused in the Jammu and Kashmir narco-terror case was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Sunday, officials said, adding that the case is linked to proscribed Pakistan-based terrorist outfits, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul Mujahideen (Hizb), which are using the drug money to fund terrorism in the erstwhile state.
In a statement, NIA said the accused, Syed Saleem Jahangir Andrabi alias Saleem Andrabi, was arrested by the agency’s sleuths on Sunday, marking a vital breakthrough in the case and a “major success in NIA’s efforts to destroy the narco-terror nexus and dismantle the ecosystem created in India by terrorist organisations based across the border.”
Andrabi, a resident of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district and key accused in the case, had been on the on the run since June 2020. He was subsequently chargesheeted under various sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act, Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case. the NIA said.
The federal probe agency took over the investigation of the case on June 26, 2020, from the local police and during the investigation, it was found that Saleem Andrabi was part of a deep-rooted conspiracy for procuring and selling narcotic drugs and generating funds in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India.
“The conspiracy was hatched by drug smugglers in close association with operatives of banned terrorist outfits, LeT and HM, based across the border in Pakistan. Funds generated through the narcotics racket were pumped into J-K through a network of over-ground workers (OGWS) for promoting terrorist violence, NIA’s investigations revealed,” the NIA said.
The case was originally registered at the Handwara police station following the arrest of one Abdul Momin Peer, after his Hyundai Creta vehicle was intercepted by Police and Rs 20,01,000 cash and 2 kgs of Heroin were seized.
On questioning, Peer had led the police to the recovery of another 15 kgs of Heroin and Rs 1.15 crores in cash.
So far, the NIA has chargesheeted a total of 15 accused, through various chargesheets filed between December 2020 and February 2023, in the case, in which investigations are continuing, the agency said.
(With inputs from agencies)
