Three with Bhatti links held in J&K, one in Punjab; items ‘drone-dropped from Pakistan’ seized

Police claimed they have seized an Italian-made Bretta pistol along with two magazines and four live rounds, besides 500 grams of heroin and opium each from them.

The Jammu & Kashmir Police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested four people, including a Punjab resident, for allegedly being members of a cross-border narco-terror module with links in Pakistan. Police claimed the accused had links with Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti.

The arrested persons included two residents of Talhar, both called Ajay Kumar who went by the aliases Rabb and Sam, respectively, and one Rahul from Treva.

Police claimed they have seized an Italian-made Bretta pistol along with two magazines and four live rounds, besides 500 grams of heroin and opium each from them.

The seized items were reportedly dropped by drone from Pakistan, a police official said. Police said all three accused are in their early 20s and are drug addicts.

Following their interrogation, a man called Jaganpreet Randhawa alias Jaggi was arrested from Punjab.

The lid was taken off the module after a police party apprehended Rabb and Rahul on October 3 and seized a pistol along with ammunition and nearly 500 grams of heroin.

On their disclosure during preliminary questioning, police nabbed Sam and seized nearly 500 grams of opium from him, officials said.

Shahzad Bhatti link

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Officials said that the accused had links with Bhatti, a Pakistani handler operating under the patronage of ISI, who used to send them consignments of arms, ammunition and narcotics through drone from across the international border for further delivery to members of the module in Punjab.

During questioning, they admitted having received two drone-droppings — the first one containing nearly half-a-dozen pistols a few months ago. While delivering that consignment to some people who had come to the region from Punjab, Rahul had kept one of the pistols for himself, which later led to his arrest, a police official said.

The second drone-dropping, this time containing narcotics, was received a few days ago, which the accused had buried near a tubewell to avoid detection, police added.

A case has been registered under relevant sections, and further investigation is in progress to unearth a wider network and members of the cross border narco-terror module.

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Security agencies have already raised concern over the use of drones by terrorist handlers and cross-border smugglers in Pakistan to send weapons and narcotics into Jammu and Kashmir.

The agencies, in a massive pre-Independence Day operation launched simultaneously across 14 states, detained nearly 250 people allegedly linked to the Bhatti network. Arms, grenades and surveillance material were collected from them.

The operation followed intelligence inputs, warning of attempts by terror operatives of strikes ahead of I-Day celebrations.