JAMMU — Two notorious drug peddlers were detained under the PIT-NDPS Act in Samba and Reasi, while properties, including residential houses and bank accounts of two more peddlers, were attached in adjoining districts on Saturday, police said.
The police also arrested seven drug peddlers, including a woman, along with heroin from different districts of the Jammu region, a police spokesman said.
Kunal Teji of Bantalab and Vishal Sharma of Katra were detained under the provisions of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act for their continuous involvement in spreading the drug menace in Samba and Reasi districts.
According to the police, Teji is a habitual drug peddler who has been named in multiple cases registered under the NDPS Act at Samba Police Station and Dharamshala Police Station in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra.
The spokesman said Teji has a long criminal history and had earlier been detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in 2024.
Despite previous preventive measures and criminal proceedings, he continued to indulge in drug peddling activities, necessitating stringent action under the PITNDPS Act, he said.
Similarly, Sharma was also previously involved in several cases of drug peddling and his car was also seized, the spokesman said.
He said both the drug peddlers were lodged in the district jail, Bhaderwah.
In Ramban, the spokesman said police attached a double-storey residential house, a motorcycle, and a bank account under Section 68-F of the NDPS Act in connection with an FIR lodged at a local Police Station sometime back.
The attached assets belonged to Mohd Younis, he said, adding that a bank account in the name of his wife, containing over Rs 3.45 lakh, has also been frozen.
Police also attached a single-storey residential house with a total estimated value of approximately Rs 50 Lakhs, belonging to drug peddler Pankaj Sharma in the Billawar area of Kathua district under the NDPS Act, the spokesman said.
Three drug peddlers were arrested in Doda, two in Rajouri and one each in Samba and Reasi districts following the recovery of small quantities of heroin from their possession. The arrested peddlers included a woman in Samba. — (PTI)