Tightening its noose to check the menace, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) has filed its first chargesheet in a narco-terror case involving the seizure of 46 kg of heroin in Jammu and Punjab in August last year, exposing the role of Pakistan-based proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Police and other agencies have already reached out to several people who are suspected to have established links with terror through the menace of drugs. A number of properties of people found involved have been seized under NDPS Act and many modules busted in past several months.
However, it is the first stringent action in the case which originated with the arrest of Sartaj Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab, along with more than 33.580 kg of heroin from the Bus Stand area in Jammu, based on precise intelligence inputs on August 9 last year.
Swift follow-up investigation led to the identification of a second accused, Amritpal Singh alias Fouji, who initially escaped the scene with another consignment but was later arrested by Punjab Police, yielding an additional 12.626 kg of heroin.
Owing to the international dimensions and emerging terror linkages, the case was transferred to the SIA Jammu, and an investigation was taken up under the provisions of the NDPS Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.The SIA filed its first chargesheet before the competent court in the case, with investigations unearthing critical evidence connecting Amritpal Singh to a Pakistan-based handler affiliated with the LeT, establishing a direct narco-terrorism linkage, the official said.
He said the breakthrough was achieved through meticulously employed technical, scientific and human intelligence."The chargesheet substantiates grave offences under the NDPS Act and UAPA against the accused duo and other involved individuals, the official said."This case marks a major success for law enforcement in the fight against narcotics-fuelled terrorism and highlights the continuing threat posed by transnational criminal-terrorist syndicates exploiting drug trafficking routes to fund and support terror activities in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and beyond," he said.
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