April 17, 2021: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) files a charge-sheet before Jammu NIA Special Court against seven people, including a resident of Punjab, in a narco-terrorism case related to proscribed terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). The case is related to the seizure of 61 kilograms of heroin, 1.2 kilograms of opium and a number of arms and ammunition smuggled from across the International Border in the RS Pura sector in Jammu last year.

Date 02nd March, 2021. NIA arrested four suspected drug traffickers from over their alleged involvement in the Handwara narco-terrorism case, in which 21kg heroin and over Rs 1 crore cash were seized last year from members of a operating in J&K. Investigation revealed they were involved in cross-border smuggling of heroin in huge quantities from Pakistan and were supplying the drug in J&K and other parts of India. Proceeds of the sale were used to fund terror activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir Velley. The accused also communicated regularly with LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen operatives using encrypted chat platforms.

One can drag the dates on the colander backward and as forward as a couple of days ago. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has identified Narco-Terror as the second biggest challenge with regard to terrorism in the state. And this is not a new phenomenon. The Annual Report of the Ministry of Home affairs for 2004-2005 mentions “Narco terrorism” and on 12th July 2021, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that –“with the growing menace of narcotics, India is facing the danger of narco-terror in which drug traffickers and peddlers further their illegal and disruptive activities using drug money.”

What Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Kashmir Police said a couple of days ago, is tele-a tele. He said- “There are two biggest challenges with regard to terrorism, the first one is hybrid terrorists.…. The other challenge that the security forces are facing in the Kashmir Valley is narco-terror. Tons of narcotics have been recovered by security forces in various districts of the Kashmir valley and security agencies believe that the money from these drugs is being used by the terror outfits. The arms and ammunition are mostly bought from money generated through drug trafficking. These drugs are sold in different parts of the country.”

“The other challenge is Drugs. Students and civilians are involved in drug addiction and narcotics are coming from across the border. The narcotics are being sold and that money is given to terrorists and terror outfits. They buy arms and ammunition with that money and that’s a big challenge for us”. Jammu and Kashmir Becomes First Union Territory to Be Integrated.

Jammu and Kashmir police is almost regularly busting narco-terror modules and seizing contraband worth several crore rupees. Many times, suspects are neutralised also.

How the narco-terrorism became the buzz-word in the realms of nation-state policy, internal security or specifically terrorism, is a matter to be looked more closely. According to an NCB report, “more than 25% of the money spent on terrorist activities in India by the ISI comes from the narcotics drug trade”. Nations are known to be fighting ‘war on terror,’ but the same have been appended with ‘war on drugs’.

India has an additional dimension added to it. Our strategic location between Golden Crescent (Afghanistan and Pakistan) and Golden Triangle (area consisting Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, & most of the world’s heroin comes from this area), puts more pressure on us, besides the nefarious designs of hostile neighbours and their ‘fifth columns’. 439 Terrorists Eliminated in J-K After Article 370 Abrogation: MoS Home Nityanand Rai.

Obviously, major most share of the terror funding in Kashmir emanates from the across the border is generated through narco-financing which comes from the control of narcotics trade in the Af-Pak region. the idea behind the drugs-terrorism nexus is to make terrorism a self-propelled & self-financed and profitable business.

The seizure of 45 kilograms of heroin at two separate border areas in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday reveals how narco-terror is becoming a big threat from the western neighbour, not only in terms of sustenance of terrorist activities but also in terms of its impact on the younger population of the UT of J&K.

As per the J&K police data, in 2020 over 152 kg of heroin and 49.7 kg of brown sugar has been recovered from different parts of J&K. In 2020, the police had registered 1,132 cases and arrested 1672 people involved in drug trafficking. This shows the enormity of the challenge.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 08, 2022 03:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).