NIA files charge sheet against six in Handwara narco terrorism case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday filed a charge sheet against six people involved in alleged cross-border drug smuggling to generate money for terror activities in Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of the country, the agency said. The agency took over the probe into the smuggling after 21 kg of narcotics worth over one crore was seized in Jammu & Kashmir’s Handwara in June, it added in a statement.

Abdul Momin Peer, one of the accused, was arrested and two kg of drugs were allegedly recovered from his possession following the arrest of two other accused, Syed Iftikhar Andrabi and Islam-Ul-Haq Peer, this summer.

Another accused, Afaq Ahmad Wani, who was on the run, was arrested in July.

“Investigation revealed that accused persons including Abdul Momin Peer and Saleem Andrabi were involved in cross-border smuggling and supply of narcotic drug Heroin in J&K [Jammu & Kashmir] and other parts of the country after procuring the same from their associates based abroad including in Pakistan,” the statement said. It added Andrabi and Peer allegedly visited Pakistan several times to meet the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen operatives. The NIA said the money generated from the sale of heroin was pumped to further terrorist activities.