Srinagar: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) of Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday arrested a notorious narco-terror operative who had been on the run for over two years.
The accused, Abdul Rashid Bhat, a resident of Padgampora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, had been evading arrest since 2022 and was declared a proclaimed offender, an SIA spokesperson said.
Bhat is the third person to be arrested in the case so far. His arrest, the spokesperson added, deals a major blow to a Lashkar-e-Taiba–run narco-terror module supported by handlers based in Pakistan.
According to the agency, the network was involved in smuggling narcotics and arms through dead-drop consignments along the Line of Control in Karnah sector, which were then transported and sold in the Valley. The proceeds from these sales were used to fund terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Several charge sheets have already been filed in the case. With Bhat’s arrest, the SIA expects to uncover crucial terror links and gather more evidence to strengthen the trial already underway, the spokesperson said.
