Crime

JK major importer of banned drugs, Police seizes thousands of Codeine bottles annually

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir has turned into a major importer of banned drugs from various parts of the country with police seizing thousands of Codeine Phosphate bottles annually.

Police sources said that Srinagar police recently recovered atleast 1200 Codeine bottles from drug dealers.

“These bottles were recovered in Srinagar city and police made few arrests,” a police official, said.

On December 1, police arrested one truck driver for transporting banned drug in his vehicle from Jammu to Valley.

“12 cartoon cases (1200 bottles) of banned drug Codeine Phosphate was recovered from the vehicle,” the police official said.

The seized Codorex containing codeine is manufactured by one of the top Pharmaceutical Company of India despite a blanket ban on its manufacture and sale.

On December 3, police recovered 35 bottles of Codeine Phosphate in Rafiabad area of district Baramulla.

Giving details how the drugs are being imported into Kashmir, the police official said, “These people label these drugs as B-complex. When get registered, they remove this label and put another label of Codeine over them and sell in Kashmir,” the official said. “This is how they are selling these drugs. A lot of youth have got involved in drugs in the state,” the official said.

Sources said that over the last “five to six years”, 968 quintals, or 96.8 tonnes, equivalent to 12 truckloads (at 8 tonnes per truck), of narcotic drugs have been seized.

“Between 2014 and August 2017, 118 kg of heroin was seized,” a police official has said.

In the same period, as many as 18,435 drug addicts reported for treatment at the two hospitals associated with the Government Medical College (GMC) in Srinagar and a Drug De-addiction Centre (DDC) run by the Jammu and Kashmir police in the city, official data at the two hospitals and DDC has revealed.

“Drug addiction is a bigger challenge than militancy in Jammu and Kashmir,” state’s director general of police, Shesh Paul Vaid had said recently.

In September 2017, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti directed senior police officials to use the most draconian laws, including the Public Safety Act (PSA)–a law under which a person can be detained without trial for upto two years–against those involved in the cultivation and smuggling of drugs.

 

(With inputs from KNS)

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