Kingpin of drug racket arrested in JK's Samba

An alleged kingpin of inter-state drug racket was arrested on Thursday along Jammu-Pathankot highway in Samba district, police said here.

Rashid Hussain Thoker of Gudoora village of Pulwama, was arrested on a specific information at Tapyal-Ghagwal on the highway, a police spokesman said.

Terming the arrest of Thoker as a "major blow" to nefarious designs of drug smugglers, he said the Kashmir-based narcotic smuggler used to supply narcotics from Kashmir to other parts of the Union Territory and outside.

"Thoker has nexus with narcotic gang operating in Punjab where he frequently supply huge narcotic consignments by tactfully concealing it in the vehicles coming from Kashmir side," he said adding a special team was constituted to unearth the nexus.

Meanwhile, Udhampur police arrested a drug peddler and recovered seven kgs of poppy straw during vehicle checking at Jakhani Chowk along Jammu-Srinagar National highway on Wednesday, the spokesman said.

He identified the arrested peddler as Shaheen Ahmed Bhat of Pulwama and said a case under the NDPS Act was registered against him.