Srinagar – As security forces press on in their fight against terrorism, Srinagar Police has intensified its crackdown on drug abuse and trafficking, arresting 97 people and registering 73 cases over the past three months.
Officials say intelligence inputs suggest Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), failing to lure Kashmiri youth into terrorism, is now pushing narcotics to weaken the region’s younger generation.
With heroin becoming harder to obtain due to strict police enforcement, many addicts are turning to medical opioids as substitutes, according to Dr. Mohammad Muzaffar Khan, head of a local drug de-addiction centre. “When cravings become too strong, they switch to medicinal tablets,” he said, noting that these are often procured illegally from outside Jammu and Kashmir through couriers from cities like Delhi and Amritsar. A strip costing ₹150 in the market can sell for as much as ₹800 on the black market.
Khan said heroin use has replaced locally grown cannabis and charas over the past seven to eight years, and warned that some patients — including those as young as 20 — consume 10–15 tablets at a time to mimic heroin’s effects.
From April to July, police seized 3.57 kg of brown sugar, 1.73 kg of heroin, over 203 kg of charas, nearly 12 kg of fuki, along with psychotropic tablets, capsules, cannabis and bung. They also froze 29 bank accounts, attached six vehicles and nine houses linked to traffickers, detained 21 people under the PIT-NDPS Act, and destroyed three drug hotspots.
In court, charge sheets were filed in 67 cases, seven bail applications were rejected, and several bail and acquittal orders were challenged. Two departmental inquiries were initiated against investigating officers and prosecution witnesses for alleged lapses.
Recovering addicts describe the severe personal cost of drug abuse — from crippling withdrawal symptoms to the loss of businesses and livelihoods — and urge young people to “stay away from drugs at all costs.”
Srinagar Police says the campaign is aimed not just at dismantling trafficking networks, but also at safeguarding the region’s future generation.
