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NCB seeks public help in tracing key drug peddler who escaped custody
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on Tuesday, sought public help in tracing a notorious drug peddler, who escaped NCB custody and remains at large.
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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on Tuesday, sought public help in tracing a notorious drug peddler, who escaped NCB custody and remains at large.
The NCB has also circulated his photographs for the general public.
Aquib Bashir, considered a prized catch, was part of a larger trans-border narco-terror module being operated from Pakistan, who escaped from NCB headquarters in Narwal here late Sunday.
“The drug peddler was nabbed with 522 grams of heroin from a bus in Samba. He was linked to a trans-border narco terror module that was being operated from Pakistan via the Uri and Punjab border,” said a senior official of the NCB.
He had been visiting another key drug peddler, a woman identified as Rekha in Ludhiana, said the official.
“In the past over a month we have arrested three to four drug peddlers including the woman drug peddler. However, Aquib Bashir was a prized catch for us,” he added.
This man, a drug addict himself, used to visit Rekha in Ludhiana twice every month and never carried any mobile phone with him, said the official.
He informed that ever since Aquib Bashir escaped from NCB headquarters, CCTV footages have shown him moving around Fruit Mandi in Narwal and Balidan Stambh.
“While we are trying to catch hold of this man, we also appeal to the public to share any clue about him with us. A drug peddler moving freely is a threat to civil society,” said the officer.
The NCB has also informed the Pulwama SSP and has sought his help as well.
“Aquib and Rekha were the two key links in the trans-border narco-terror module. While Rekha is in the custody of NCB in Chandigarh, we are going to get this man soon,” said the officer.
He also said that an internal probe has been initiated to fix the accountability.
“Disciplinary action under rules will certainly be initiated against officials, who were supposed to keep him under custody,” said the officer.
Aquib Bashir, is a resident of Kakapora in Pulwama district.
Bashir was arrested on September 3 from a passenger bus at New Bus Stand in Samba district with 522 grams of heroin .
Aquib Bashir had been acting as a carrier for the contraband, which was being smuggled from Pakistan via Uri in Baramulla and sometimes from the Punjab border.
Police and other security agencies have intensified frisking and vehicle checks at key entry and exit points.
Bashir’s arrest was part of an intensive month-long NCB operation in the Jammu division that, according to officials, exposed two routes allegedly being used by narcotics smugglers to bring heroin into Jammu and Kashmir—directly from Pakistan through the Uri sector and indirectly through Punjab.
In four interceptions carried out during the operation, along with a linked recovery in Punjab, the NCB seized a cumulative 6.920 kg of heroin and arrested six accused persons.
