Srinagar, 10 August (H.S.): As security forces continue their fight against terrorism, the Srinagar police has launched a crackdown against drug abuse and trafficking that has led to the arrest of 97 people and the filing of 73 cases in the last three months.
Officials cite intelligence reports indicating that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), having failed in recruiting local youth for terrorism, is now actively promoting drug abuse to destabilise Kashmir’s younger generation.
With intensified police crackdowns making heroin more difficult to obtain, addicted youth in Srinagar are increasingly turning to medical opioids as a substitute.
Dr. Mohammad Muzaffar Khan, who heads a local drug de-addiction centre, confirms this shift, saying the demand for narcotic analgesics has surged.
“Heroin has become difficult to procure because of strict police enforcement,” Khan said, adding, “When cravings become too strong, they switch to medicinal tablets.” He said these tablets are often procured through illegal channels, bypassing medical shops, and are sometimes ordered from outside Jammu and Kashmir via couriers from cities like Delhi or Amritsar.
While a strip costs Rs 150, black market prices can soar to Rs 800 for a single dose.
Khan also pointed out a shift from locally grown cannabis and charas to heroin addiction over the last seven to eight years.
Srinagar police initiated the aggressive campaign amid a steep surge in the consumption of psychotropic drugs, particularly heroin, among the youth.
Between April and July, it arrested 97 people, registered 73 cases, and seized brown sugar (3.57 kg), heroin (1.73 kg), charas (203.43 kg), fuki (11.95 kg), besides psychotropic tablets, capsules, cannabis and bung.
Police are targeting the financial networks behind drug trafficking and have frozen 29 bank accounts, besides attaching assets, including six vehicles and nine residential houses, linked to smugglers.
Police have also detained 21 people under the PIT-NDPS Act and destroyed three drug hotspots.
In court, police have filed charge sheets in 67 of the 73 cases, secured rejections of seven bail applications, and challenged seven bail orders and three acquittal orders.
---------------
Hindusthan Samachar / Krishan Kumar
