Srinagar: Two suspected drug peddlers were arrested and 500 grams of heroin and charas each was seized from their possession in Ramban and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said Tuesday.

The arrest comes a day after Inspector General of Police, Jammu, M K Sinha said terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen is engaged in smuggling narcotics into the state from across the Line of Control (LoC).

Amin Mohammad, a resident of Udhampur, was arrested along with 500 grams of heroin worth crores of rupees during checking at T-Chowk in Banihal area of Ramban district Tuesday morning, a police official said. 

The official said the accused was coming by train from Kashmir when he was stopped for checking, leading to the recovery of the narcotic substance. 

In Poonch district, the police on Monday arrested Raza Ahmad of Malikpur-Gohlad from Sanagala Chowk during vehicle checking and recovered 500 grams of charas from his possession.

Both the arrested persons were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and are being questioned, they said. 

In its drive against the menace of drugs, the police, BSF and other security forces arrested five narcotic smugglers and recovered 25 kg of heroin in three separate operations along the International Border, LOC and Udhampur along Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in the past week.

“During interrogation, the arrested smugglers revealed that there is a nexus between Hizbul Mujahideen militants, trained in Pakistan and presently living there, with narco smugglers on this side of the border,” Sinha had told reporters here. 

Highlighting the police achievement in curbing the menace, Sinha said 454 drug peddlers have been arrested so far this year and 341 cases, under the NDPS Act, were registered, against 302 arrests and 231 cases during the same period last year. 

He said 57 kg of heroin, 5,035 kg of poppy straw, 111 kg of charas and 15,676 bottles of banned ‘corex’ have been seized this year.